Reflected Landscapes

Dana Elkis, Matthew Ross

An interactive sound and light sculpture that is driven by the principles of echo, feedback and collision.

https://pinkeey9.wixsite.com/danaelkisblog/blog/pcompfinal-process-documentation

Description

Our inspiration and goal for this project is to create an effective metaphor and medium for the term echo as it relates to music. In music, echo can be defined as a “repetition or mimicking of a certain passage, usually with less force and volume than the original statement”(https://musicterms.artopium.com/e/Echo.htm) . Our goal is to give people who aren't necessarily musicians the ability to understand and engage with the principles of echo.

We have implemented this concept by building a 3 x 2ft box with a diffused window overlooking a large(700pixel) LED matrix, with 5-7 sliders that are positioned on the x and y axis of the box. As users move the sliders, they are able to “create echos” that begin spreading through the LED matrix and emit sound as they move and grow. If users move the sliders in such a way that the echos “collide” they will be absorbed into each others feedback loops, thus creating a new larger sound in the network, and introducing more complexity in the visual/audio feedback. Multiple people can be interacting with our project at once, and our goal is to create a novel experience as opposed to an instrument that one can “master”.

Echo is a powerful and compelling effect, one used universally in music and easily understood by a wide audience. As opposed to using echo as purely an effect we want to apply it as our driving artistic statement and in doing so give people the opportunity to easily participate in an engaging and playful musical experience. We are purposefully foregoing detailed instructions on how to use our creation, as our goal is to get people to explore all the possibilities within our system.

Classes

Intro to Fabrication, Intro to Fabrication, Introduction to Physical Computing