For Readymades, we started an assignment for making a sound based readymade art piece. The goal is to give an object personality using only sound as an output. I chose this basket:
I’m interested in using this basket for two reasons: highlighting the unknown and overlooked properties of the basket, and then using the experience to have people think about their own body and space as a result.
The basic tech diagram:
The broader idea is to think about sound in relation to spatial awareness and understanding. The wicker basket is hard, lacquered, and kind of sharp in some spots. However, with a close enough microphone, other properties emerge.
For the initial proof of concept I used a normal microphone with a rudimentary USB audio interface. With the mic right up against the side of the basket, even the lightest touch was heard. Things that are inaudible normally are very loud. And they sound soft, fuzzy, and kind of warm.
I wound up taking the recording and making a max patch as a rudimentary simulation. This video works best with headphones, or conspicuously placed stereo speakers.
I’ll speak more in class about some of my artistic goals. But I am interested in a kind of “mapping” or “scaling” of sensory input of the audience. Imagine the distance between your two ears. Now imagine they were microphones with nothing between them. If you moved these microphones closer or further apart, you could be simulating what it would be like to hear if your head was larger or smaller. (Rough simulation, of course). I’ve been thinking of this idea in terms of eyes and cameras for a while, but managed to realize the sonically equivalent approach for this project.
This is combined with a few other questions. Will the immersion into the basket sounds make the audience feel as if they *are* the basket, or *inside* of the basket? If they feel that they “are”, then would it feel like they are touching their own heads? If they feel they are “inside”, what kind of box (or basket) are they actually inside of?
Talking with Manning over the weekend also gave me a few ideas of playing with the sense of scale. But in general I want to experiment with a possible “out of body experience” approach and see what qualities are most compelling.