On Space

2015 Interactive Sound Installation
Dimensions & Duration: Variable
Material: 6 Speakers, Microcontroller, Contact Switches, Media Player, Electrical Wiring

I am interested in how environments influence people and how people’s presence simultaneously transforms that environment in more ways than typically perceived. Using sound as a medium, I was able to connect spaces beyond the range of visual perceptibility. The installation mapped out movement through sound abstractly. It activated the stairwell in a six-story building through interactive sound. Using doors with contact switches and microcontrollers, I made a system where everyday use of the space became the stimuli for multilayered sound compositions.

This installation created an interconnected sound space by mixing its sounds with the larger acoustic ecosystem. It made one become aware of a spatial context that one is a part of rather than being detached inside one’s thoughts. Mindfulness practices from eastern philosophy and the idea of an extended self, an identity composed as an environment, were foundational thoughts behind this installation.

stairwell render.png — I composed short rhythms for each floor ranging in octaves. The elevation determined the pitch. As people used the stairwell, different speakers got activated, and there was an algorithm in place to control the flow of music.
At any given time, no more than three speakers could be active.
Each time a new sound got triggered, it replaced the first of the three that were playing.
The last triggered sound continued on loop until new sounds got triggered.
The shaft of the stairwell became a resonant echo chamber for sound to reverberate through. People were often taken aback and slowed down to pay attention to the larger acoustic ecosystem as they moved through the installation.

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