- Interactive sound installation

- Kaleidoscope, motor, magnifier, flashlight, microphones, speakers, computer

 

This is an installation about the experience of photography. By reversing the direction of light, one can focus the inner image of a Kaleidoscope onto a wall. By connecting the system to a motor, the audience can interact with the device or make it stop. This "stopping" action mimics the experience of pressing a shutter, and the installation is hence a "camera" in disguise.

 

Complete Statement: http://www.shengwenlo.com/kaleidoscope-statement

Project Page: http://www.shengwenlo.com/kaleidoscope

The world comprises vision and sound. 

Collaborating with composer I-lly Cheng, I extract the sound inside the rotating kaleidoscope and feed it into a computer. The sound is calculated in real time by designed patches using Max/MSP software. The speakers output the resulting sound (also in real time). The microphone also picks up ambient sound; thus the entire room is within the interactive sound field. 

Max/MSP patch

Initial draft of the system.

The device is a morphed camera: the wall is the film, the control knob is the shutter, the rotation is time, and the world is inside the kaleidoscope.