Water, salt and music form a mesmerising visualisation of sound waves

Warning: this film features rapidly flashing images that can be distressing to photosensitive viewers.

For the ABC Science series Phenomena, the Australian artist and filmmaker Josef Gatti collaborated with the Australian composer Kim Moyes for an amalgamation of art and science exploring ‘naturally occurring patterns, and the fundamental forces of nature that create them’. This episode sets out to explore the concept of sound waves using a rather simple combination of water, salt and music. By running sound waves through a low-frequency speaker with water resting at its centre and a high-frequency mechanical wave drive with salt resting on top, Gatti and his team create patterns that transform with each pitch change, forming a mesmerising visual representation of a phenomenon that’s usually hidden from sight.