RESONATING MECHANISMS (2023)

photo of the installation with tubes, airpump etc
a photo of a wooden installation, pyramid-shaped arranged wooden planks holding up moitors showing processing animations, the bottom covered in golden foil, standing inside a venetian church. An altar can be seen in the background.
a screenshot imag from the KOSMICS website, with a photo of an ultra sonic speaker, and description text for the artowrk -Enouncter in the Dawn-, shown at the Venice Biennale in 2021.

Interactive Sound Installation

Lyssah Oterdoom, Oísin Duggan Metcalf, Anna-Lina Helsen


An interactive sound installation using feedback loops, Arduinos, servo motors, 3D prints and more to explore how much one can control the uncontrollable.

Resonating Mechanisms was an interactive sound installation, created in the seminar Block 8 at HKU (University of the Arts Utrecht).

The installation examines a continuously evolving feedback loop between the sculpture itself, the space and the visitor and invites the visitor to explore how much they can control the uncontrollable. The work refers to systems we as consumers keep in motion and influence by our (in)actions. The blue marked elements invite the viewer to come closer and listen or interact with the mechanism

Resonating Mechanisms is a sound sculpture built from pvc pipes, air pumps, servo motors, exciter speakers and contact microphones. The work explores the power of analog feedback loops. Starting from the base of the sculpture air gets pushed through the pipes system. Exciter speakers amplify the sound being picked up by hanging microphones within the same sculpture. Whilst the hanging microphones are being controlled with servo motors, a chaotic, uncontrollable creature is being created. The sculpture creates a sense of causal relation between the visitor and the modulation of the sound.

After researching texts, publications, and materials and writing a short essay ourselves, we started constructing the installation. The creation process was an enjoyable opportunity to get more soldering practice, crimping cables and experimenting with Arduinos and servo motors, as well as first experiences with 3D printing. These aspects were done as a group effort, whereby I focussed more on the 3D printing and one of the servo motors, whilst Lyssah worked on the other servo motor and Oisín on the exciter speaker as well as the lighting for the installation and a large part of the filming for the documentation

Later on, I edited the video documentation, mapped it to the sound and created a website for the project documentation. This was hosted using a temporary Cargo site code which has since expired, but there are image documentations of the site

Link to the Video: VIMEO


IMPRESSUM