Matthew Prebeg

I am an artist, designer, researcher, and storyteller. Read more about me here.

My requests for collaboration are currently open. Learn more about my approach and offerings here.

You can keep in touch with me through my blog, Instagram, and Are.na.

--



They say you can hear the ocean in a seashell. That was the first thing my Baka said when she handed me this conch from Podgora, Croatia. When I visited Podgora a few years ago, I heard the ocean. I heard the crashing of waves against the pebble beach.

While “seashell resonance” may be a folk myth, I hold onto this idea, well into adulthood, that a seashell connects me to the same waves my grandmother swam in as a child.

I ran a Python script to convert a .WAV audio file of the crashing waves on the beach in Podgora to binary code. I painted each zero and one on the inside of the conch until there was no space left.Whether or not you, too, can hear the ocean in a seashell, I think there’s value in holding onto these experiences even when they shift form.They say you can hear the ocean in a seashell. That was the first thing my Baka said when she handed me this conch from Podgora, Croatia. When I visited Podgora a few years ago, I heard the ocean. I heard the crashing of waves against the pebble beach.While “seashell resonance” may be a folk myth, I hold onto this idea, well into adulthood, that a seashell connects me to the same waves my grandmother swam in as a child.I ran a Python script to convert a .WAV audio file of the crashing waves on the beach in Podgora to binary code. I painted each zero and one on the inside of the conch until there was no space left.

Whether or not you, too, can hear the ocean in a seashell, I think there’s value in holding onto these experiences even when they shift form.

Videos here.
This website is updated every so often. Last updated on 27 July 2025. All contents are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license. Thanks for visiting :)