Run the week of November 5th, 2018 in the Art and Media Lab, Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts, Kingson, ON
In this piece, a collection of microcassette players are deconstructed into their most basic elements: motors and tape heads. Sound is generated by controlling the motors through various methods.
The first is using an ensemble of motors that are being controlled by long period timer circuits which turn on the motors for various lengths at different speeds, resulting in drawn-out dissonant chords. The radiating electromagnetic fields from the motors are picked up by the tape heads and amplified through the speakers.
The second method used to control the motors is through the playback of an edited spoken word endlessloop cassette. Speech is used as control signals to drive the motors, transforming the electrical energy to kinetic energy, moving the motors back and forth. Spoken word was chosen to reflect back upon the beginnings and endings of the medium:
The origins of the cassette player date back to 1962, starting out as simple speech recorders as the fidelityof the sound was not yet acceptable for commercial music releases. The final iteration of the cassette was the even more compact, microcassette (of which is used here). With slower playback speeds, the fidelity once again limited this medium to speech and dictation.
Music through corrugated pipe, wooden junction boxes, and assorted circuitry.
Sound Installation by Dimitri Georgaras and Maddy Roach for the 2018 Kingston Juvenis Festival.
Ran at the Tett Centre for Creativity and Learning and 274 Princess Street the week of May 1, 2018.
Pipe Dreams is an interactive sound installation which explores the relationship between art and science. Sound travels through a system of interconnected tubing, where the path of the sound will be constantly changing, producing sonically unique events. The installation is built and designed by electrical engineering students (now graduates), Dimitri Georgaras and Maddy Roach, both artists in their own right, looking to apply their electrical knowledge creatively to the world of sound art. The artists intend the installation to inspire youth to see the two areas (science and art) as not exclusive, but complementary in nature.
The compositional technique used for this installation is acoustic feedback through the use of speakers and microphones. By placing a microphone at the ends of the pipes, the output is fed into and amplifier then connected to the speakers, then through the pipes, and back to the microphones, thus creating the feedback loop. The pitch of the feedback tone is altered by the change of the sound’s path via the manual and automatically spinning junction boxes.
How To Use: We designed this installation for the audience to interact with the piece and change the sonic qualities of the feedback tones. The boxes with handles are meant to be manually turned to change the path of the sound, and therefore the resulting pitch of the feedback tone. Pro tip: turn the handles of the manual junction boxes slowly to hear how your actions are changing the sound, as the tones may take time to fully develop. There are also instruction painted on the top of the boxes where people can either shine the flashlight of their phone or wave to a motion sensor.
Special thanks to Jane Karges, Reid Cunningham, Jessica Rossiter, and everyone on the 2018 Juvenis Festival staff.