Introduction
In Melbourne (Australia) Toy Satellite artists created Tat Fat Size Temple(TFST), a challenging installation piece comprised of sounds and images accessible via a dedicated web site, public installation and the Sound Drifting installations in Linz.

Background
In June '99, Justina Curtis and I traveled to Sarawak. During our stay there we were privileged to record, videotape and photograph the day-to-day lives of the people of the Rumah Sauh and Rumah Jeli longhouse communities. This extraordinary material formed the basis of both sound and visual components for TFST.
The idea was to create a soundscape that represented the fragmentation of Dayak culture due to the encroachment of "western" economies and social values. A generative approach to this project gave us more opportunity to replicate the "ebb and flow" of such influences as they cross into the various social structures that have bound these communities together for more than three centuries.

Project
The project was created as several components, each offering a different interpretation of the source materials, each providing a view of process and origin. These consisted of the generative soundscape, web site, visuals and installation.

Soundscape
Thirty individual samples were used in the construction of the generative composition. They were broken down into four categories: chanting, percussion, people and atmospheres. Thirty-seven tracks were used to drive these samples and variations of some tracks with Koan, generative music software from SSEYO. Throughout the course of the installation, some tracks were muted so as to "ease" the piece through its various transitions. Given the length of the piece (9 days), it was necessary to allow enough room for variation, morphing and development without extensive repetition.
In addition, the live soundscape was enhanced for low bit-rate MP3 streaming by running the Koan piece through a digital effects processor. By adding particular reverb characteristics, the piece was not only streaming with more depth, the sounds that eventually wound their way up and down Smith Street were remarkably spacious and became more so with the natural, and often subtly chaotic "Ping-Pong" delay created by passing traffic, buildings and other urban surfaces.
Other instruments were added to the overall mix, both street and online. These included sine-wave generators, a Synthi A (Produced by EMS in 1971), a Roland SH1, a Frostwave Resonant Filter, and pre-recorded sounds from other parts of Smith Street. Streams from other Sound Drifting participants were mixed in as well, often resulting in suprisingly complimentary collisions.

Web site
We wanted to create a web site that not only provided background information, but was integral to the project. We designed an interface that represented the project as a whole, integrating a library of short clip-animations that could be viewed whilst listening to the soundscape.

Visuals
The soundscape was complimented with images that both represented the origins of the sounds and pointed to the fragmentation - or rather a degeneration - of cultural aesthetics. The sources and their integration into the installation included:
- 35mm and digital photos from Sarawak.
- Photos and video from Kuching and Sibu (Sarawak), the ex-brewery silos in Collingwood (Melbourne) and other local landmarks.
- A time-lapse video of a food sculpture of Melbourne was recompiled and added to the web interface as short-clip animations.
- Discarded 35 film footage found in a Melbourne back street and restored as a 3 hour video tape at the Centre for Animation and Interactive Media.
- Material from our in-house library of videos including video animations by Sydney-based artist, David Nerlich; Stadtwerkstatt-TV (Linz), 1987-1994; and videos made by Dayak communities produced by the KOMAS film-makers organisation in Malysia.

Fresh animations were added during the course of the installation. One could select from a series of five pieces, each fading into the other upon selection.

Installation
Although the Toy Satellite studios have been used for many in-house functions and events (project launches, meetings, live web casts) for security reasons we have always been cautious about opening the studio to the general public. However our street window frontage is very useful as a public installation space and was well suited for the presentation of TFST. We installed a computer monitor and video projection screens in the window and hung speakers under the awning of the studio so that the soundscape could be heard amidst the streetscape. This provided passersby with direct contact with the installation components, information about the process and a soundscape that occassionaly broke the monotony of traffic.

Despite the lack of a comprehensive publicity campaign, the response TFST received was more than we could have hoped for in terms of its physical presence on Smith Street and its participatory role in the Sound Drifting project. Perhaps the project can best be summarised by the email feedback we received from Sarawak, from someone weaned on Karaoke and sentimental Asian pop music:

Date: Mon, 06 Sep 1999 15:43:43 +0800 To: "andrew garton" <agarton@toysatellite.com.au> From: <paw@tm.net.my> "Am listening to it now as I am writing this and except for the interruption in the receiving of the files, the little sounds that echo out in between is just fantastic_ I am beginning to like this sort of alternative music already, rather than those bloody sentimental types :-) Those make me depress but this type is just so much more vibrant and alive. Keep up the great work and more alternatives to the ears."