Pre-Seminar Task 

Impulse is an interactive sound art installation from the collaboration between CS Design and Toronto-based Lateral Office, on the Streets of Montreal. It’s an installation of 30 interactive lighted seesaws. It requires 2 people to be on the seesaw to activate it. Once activated it will begin to produce sound resulting in various musical harmonies when as more seesaws are being activated. This Installation promotes public participation and not only that it gives users an experience they will truly remember. Using seesaw as one of the elements which are a childhood relatable item really brings the attraction for users and also using sound as a product they can produce just by playing a seesaw is an interactive process which users will enjoy.

Garden russolo is an interactive sound installation by Japanese designer Yuri Suzuki. The installation allows visitors to have a sonic and interactive experience using their own voice. This is how it works, as users speak into the speaker, it would produce back a modified sound using the user’s voice. Different sound box produces different modification of sound. It is an interesting installation which requires users to participate and experience it themselves. An experience where the user feels they have produced something unique when interacting with the installation itself.

Seminar Questions

1. What is sound? – The direct definition of sound is a vibration that travels through the air or another medium and can be heard when they reach a person’s or animal’s ear. Sound can be something soothing or something dreadful to the ears. It can be produced by anything. It’s a product of two objects come in contact. It requires an effort, force, and an impact to produce sound.
2. How has it been use in culture and society? – Sound is used as a form of alert, signal or even delivering a message in culture and society. It’s there in our daily life. The sound from our phone notification, a sound that is produced on a lift button to alert us. The sound produced by a traffic light to deliver us an alert, a message that we need to speed up as we cross the traffic. ASound is also used for entertainment or even to fulfil a religion rituals.
3. What makes it an art? – Its when sound is used for an experience. When it is not only about a purpose. It doesn’t need to have a purpose to be used or produced. It can become art when different sounds are being produced at the same time or the process of producing the sound itself and how the sounds are produced. In what form do the sounds turn out. The exploration of the loudness of the sound and even the length and beat of the sound.
4. How does advancement in audio technology affect our sense? – Audio technology exposes our sense to something new, something that is not natural. It is something modified which means it alerts the human sense that its something different and unique therefore attracting us to further listen and which then be brought to a different sense.