Category: Project 2 – Evocative Object: Research

4D II | Evocative Object Process

Group members: Rochele, Xuan Fei, Kou Ying

We had our ideas presentation the other day which three of us get to propose three different ideas. My initial idea of playing with mirrors/reflective glass was not good enough. People may not be able to relate to the stories of other people and the purpose of this project is to involve the viewers into the world of the object, by using sound.

We decided to scrape our ideas altogether and went to explore around. After a good ol’ 30 minutes, we settled on the idea of “talking bins”. 

We thought of using sound effects such as scream, shout, cries to express how a trash feels when it is being thrown into the bin. This helps to raise environmental awareness. For instance, people will be more aware of how they handle waste or even cut down on the amount of waste they throw away. Michael told us that we should make the sound message clearer in order to communicate our main message to the public. Therefore, we plan to incorporate messages like “Thank you”, “Well done” for people who disposed the trash into the right bins, while messages like “Oh No!”, “What are you doing???” for every wrong trash being placed into the bin, together with the sound effects.

The final idea for this project is to use proximity sensors to detect objects that are being thrown into the bins. In order to do this, the bins will be remodelled. For instance, the opening of the bin will have a slope so that the rubbish will fall towards a certain direction and hit on the metal plate in the bin. The metal plate is made of alloy materials, with spring coils underneath for the convenience of heavier objects. The rubbish will slide across the plate so that it can be detected by the sensors on the opposite side.

Illustration of the remodelled bin

A brief description of the technical part:

The components involved are Raspberry PI, Arduino Uno, Inductive Proximity Sensor (IPS) and Capacitive Proximity Sensor (CPS). By interfacing Raspberry PI with Arduino Uno, analog values from the sensors can be read. There is a range of value given to each type of object –

EXAMPLE

PAPER (VALUE RANGES FROM IPS;80-100, CPS;100-120) IPS = 90 CPS = 110
PLASTIC (VALUE RANGES FROM IPS;0-50, CPS;150-200) IPS = 10 CPS = 200
Simple illustration of the circuit

Each type of object has its own pin (D1,D2,D3, etc) on Arduino Uno so that signals will be transmitted to Raspberry PI from each respective pin. When high signal is detected, specific audio file will be played.

EXAMPLES

^ when a can is being thrown into the correct recycle bin

^when a can is being thrown into the normal bin

4D II | Evocative Object Research

With the end of Project One, it’s time for another journey!

In Project Two, we were tasked to create a sound artwork that can be paired with an object. Basically, it is to make the object interactive such that it must be able to communicate something.

Before I began to work on this project, I went on a little research.

What is sound? What is sound art all about?

Sound is not a substance nor a mass. It is something that constantly pour into our ears without us noticing.  This brings us to recognize the terms “hearing” and “listening”. Sound is literally everywhere, but only people who listen can be engaged with the sound. When the sound is being listened, we are conscious about its details such as the volume, pitch, speed etc, which brings about a whole new meaning.

Sound art, on the other hand, is a type of experimental music. For instance, putting together unconventional sounds to articulate the characteristic of a place, object.

John Cage, an American music composer, successfully moved beyond the confined of conventional musical structures. One of his masterpiece is 4’33” (four minutes thirty three seconds) where the performer stayed silent throughout but there is plenty of white noise involved – the audiences in this case has become the “performers” instead. This is because all the movements from the audiences can be heard while the stage is in complete silent.  Through this piece of sound, John Cage has completely changed the roles of performer and listener.

Some of the sound installations which I find interesting are as below:

Artist: Kiwan Sung

Title: Sonic Jar

The objects used here are Korean traditional jars, known as Hangari. As Hangari is believed to be closely related to the lives of Korean women, the artist recorded 5 women talking about their pregnancy stories and childbirth. The players were then put into the jars. I love that how the artist uses symbolism to depict the idea of women. Something small is loaded with significance – using merely jars to represent Korean women.

https://youtu.be/hqbNO0Rusqk

Artist: Jacqueline Rommerts, Fedde ten Berge, Malu Peeters and Marloes van Son

Title: Sound Boards

This installation uses porcelain plates to function as instrument. The plates will produce sounds when they are hit by drumsticks. The sound of the porcelain is picked up by four electret microphones that are mounted under the plates in the box. When the plates are hit by a performer different sound modules will then become active in a random order. I like how aesthetically pleasing the porcelain plates are when they are arranged in such manner. It is a piece of art itself on the wall. However, there is  an extra layer of meaning when they are combined with sound.

https://youtu.be/c7kDhAHEWAM

Artist: Don Ritter

Title: Intersection

Visitors are required to enter into a dark space where they will encounter the sounds of four or eight lanes of car traffic rushing across them. A dimly lit exit sign is found on the other side of the room such that the viewers need to venture across the dark room in order to exit. While passing through the speakers, visitors can hear loud screeching sounds of cars coming to a halt, accelerating cars or the sound of cars smashing. It taps on people’s fear (the overwhelmed feeling in a dark space, anxiety, lost, tension), while the visitors themselves are active participants in this installation, and I hope to achieve that in Project Two!

https://youtu.be/9OIwCwhtzsc

From these three examples,

I thought of sending out google forms to people to ask about their personal insecurities/fears, something that haunts them in the past or are still experiencing to date. From the data collected, I could do a voiceover. Apart from that, I can try interview people and record their stories.

The objects that I plan to work with are mirrors, such that when a person passed by the mirror, the mirror will start to play the conversations recorded beforehand. Mirrors are chosen because it is the most intimate way of looking at one self. Looking at the person inside the mirror can be a challenge for some people. It makes people confront their insecurities be it body image or their own characters. It is believed that people who look at themselves long enough will experience a kind of visual illusion. For example, they might find that they don’t really recognize themselves after staring at their own reflection for a certain amount of time.

The purpose of this installation is to make people feel that they are not alone and that many people out there are facing the same kind of fears and insecurities.