Final Project

Concept:


I am working with the idea of creating a site-specific work that functions through calling attention to the presence of a person and the mark that they leave on a space. Using audio, something that people do not normally associate with leaving a mark, I am calling attention to the impact that a person has in a space regardless of its visible presence. I am hoping that the sound can essentially create a map of the space and be used to illuminate the room based on the light levels (which are dependent on how loud people are being in a certain area). I want to also see if people would try to influence the way the piece works once they understand how it functions. When the people become aware they will be able to influence the way in which they map the space. As they make this transition, I feel that there is a general success to how I want my piece to operate; the more people try to influence the space, the more aware they become of their impact. I will not be allowing people to reset the map, but instead have it on a long timer. When people then enter this space, they will be monitored if they make any noises and they will not be able to delete their presence.

Functionality:


I am using the DMA room and installing my piece where the ceiling tiles once were. There are 220 open spaces and I plan on installing lightweight screens that act as a system to visually map audio trails. I plan to use small electret systems that operate the intensity of four 'pixels' per electret. The electrets are small, inexpensive microphones that can be amplified to control LEDs. I will most likely use one strong LED per pixel and diffuse the light. Every 5 seconds or so, the device will see if there is audio and how loud it is. Based on that value, the lights will increase anywhere from 0% to 1% depending on how loud the surrounding environment (the times and/or percentages may be changed based on testing the system). Essentially it will increase based off of the audio that it picks up and will eventually map out the sound levels over time. I want this to be a gradual change so that it makes people thing about what is causing the LEDs to respond. I am currently working on the system itself, but I have found diagrams online that I might use to help me construct the final system. (I have included the links below).


Construction:
Each panel will be created with extremely lightweight, yet sturdy, particle board or wood and attach some material for the screen. I am thinking of using some type of cellophane as the screen just because it is a cheap alternative to mylar. I am thinking that there will be 2 to 4 MEGA arduinos controlling the entire system, and it is not important that they function together because each space will be independent. If I can get the microphones extremely cheap, I would like to design a board that makes each pixel individual. I am also thinking about using printed out circuits once I come up with my final design to decrease the chance for mishaps when working on this scale.


As for Changes:

For this project I am going to be making some changes based on my ability and the constraints of the space. However I do plan on keeping this some sort of mapping of the space based off of sound.

Musicator Jr

I really was glad that I found this device because it seems to be something that would be useful in the construction of my piece. While this operates in a slightly different manner than what I want it to do, I will be able to use this as a template for the system that I plan on building.





Link

Cell Phone Disco

I am including a video of a piece called "Cell Phone Disco," because I feel that the mapping of the audio in my project will mimic this grid-form.