Eric Capper
Signal Architecture
1224 W Loyola Ave, Chicago IL
July 22, 2025 - July 28, 2025
Reception July 24 at Rush Hour
We rely upon an immaterial and ever-present architecture of signal traffic beyond our senses. Communication networks, power infrastructures, surveillance grids, data centers - all linked through a shared energetic substrate of 60 Hz.
Signal Architecture reveals hidden electromagnetic and seismic languages in the built environment.
Low-frequency (ELF/VLF) electromagnetic waves—particularly those generated by nearby urban infrastructure, like grid-powered devices, converters, and CTA trains—are the raw material of this installation, drawn closer by a copper wire loop antenna.
This electromagnetic (EM) signal will act as the carrier, and will be modulated in real-time by architectural vibration taken by a geophonic microphone on the station’s structure.
Signal Architecture produces a living sonic field transforming container into transceiver.
This installation will be most active as trains at the nearby station come and go.
Eric Capper is a sound and sculpture artist, fabricator, and educator from Rockaway Beach, NY presently teaching at Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering. He holds an MFA from School of the Art Institute of Chicago. For more information, visit ericcapper.com.