VIBE
Design for Play and Provocation •
Academic Project •
Edinburgh Napier University - 2014.
Designed as a provocative interactive sound installation, this sculpture employed speakers to visualize sound vibrations as organic, playful performances triggered by human interaction. Thematically based on the concept of Cymatics, VIBE was a curatorial composition created as my final post-graduate project to visualize sound through physical and playful social interactions.
The concept:
This installation was conceptualized as a sculpture which initiates social interaction through real-time sound (clashes, slams, bang, squeaks, scrapes, scratches, thuds) from objects or “instruments” designed out of scrap material. These sound bites were then directed to the speakers and one could watch those sound bites come alive as intricate luminescent dancing visuals (speakers encased in domes with fluorescent styrofoam balls placed on top of the cones, which would start dancing when exposed to sound vibrations).
The installation was arranged in a square format with the speakers placed in the middle and the 4 ‘instruments’ placed at each corner of the installation, from where people could interact with them. Arduino and Wave shields were used to redirect real-time sound to the speakers, to get the styrofoam balls to 'dance' and thus visualize sound.