Sonic Body

The Sonic Body is an audio-installation that uses interactive technology to create an orchestra of the human body. Developed as a collaboration between four interdisciplinary artists and a heart surgeon, the installation brings together art and medical-science to reveal the unheard sounds of the body.

The installation, created by artists Harry Neve, Thomas Michalak and Anna Orliac, appears on its exterior as a neutral cylindrical pod. 

Once inside however, the audience is immersed in a contrastingly tactile and multi-sensory space filled with sculptural fabric forms that evoke the shapes and contours of inner body parts. The audiences’ movements and contact with the installation triggers a symphony of spatialized sounds to be played that have been recorded from within the body. (4 speakers and a sub)

The Sonic Body was inspired by the traditional practice of listening to the body to diagnose illness, and began as an investigation into the scope of sonic activity that exists within the human body. Medical professionals were consulted to help understand which parts of the body make sounds and why, and various methods were used to record unusual and unheard sounds from deep within the body’s organs, muscles, bones and veins. These included conventional medical equipment, such as a stethoscopes, as well as more unorthodox devices such as a hydrophone (normally used for recording aquatic-life) to capture sounds in liquid, an anechoic chamber to record microscopic external sounds, and equipment to detect and re-tune the body’s ultrasonic activity, which is usually inaudible to the human ear.

The material gathered, and relayed via the installation, reveals a spectrum of bodily acoustics beyond that of just stomach gurgles and heartbeats. There is a lung that sounds like a baby crying, an intestine that sounds like a rainforest, and there is even the anatomical sound of a female orgasm that sounds like high-pitch whistling. The project aims to create a unique way of thinking about and experiencing the body, through sound.

I am fascinated with this installation.  It lets the person immersed in the environment of the pod listen to what it may sound like in their body.  I think it is a wonderful concept and well thought out, everything from the shape of the pod to the quality of sound used.  I think it would be interesting to see how people react to the experience, I would love to try it out.  I think it could attract a lot of attention at festivals.

Jackoon Painting

Art generated by the collaboration of autonomous painting machines and artists.

Art Bots are autonomous machines that paint or draw on a canvas, sheet of paper or a surface of some kind. Systems that utilize this concept are currently used widely to create generative or algorithmic art. Some Art Bots that were created, walk around the surface of a canvas and paint a composition predetermined by the image or video they use as reference.

At first glance it seems that the Art Bots are painting a random pattern. As time passes by and they lay more paint down, it will be apparent that they are making a figurative painting. The artist can then make additions to the work to encapsulate an ideology, or to improve the composition. The work that results from this collaboration is Art Robotica. 

The ArtBots will communicate with a central computer that serves as the robots' eyes. The computer analyses video feeds from two sources; one video feed or image with data of the subject to be painted and a second camera that tracks the current position of the robot. 

I love the idea of this however in my opinion the finished product looks a bit sloppy from the images that I have found.  

I think it is a new interesting way of painting and creating art as it uses technology to create an abstract looking finished product.  

Touch Wall/Music Game

Music game is an interactive installation based on our multi-touch wall project. People generate music by hitting music instruments icons with rubber balls. As well they control concert lighting equipment via MIDI.

This solution is based on their GPU-accelerated computer vision technology called ACV. It allows to process a 4096x4096 px frame in just 5 ms (200 fps) utilizing a standard nVidia 9800 GT card. They use high-speed Fire-Wire cameras to feed their tracker at such a high data speed.

Developed by Front Pictures Studio located in Kiev, Ukraine. frontpictures.com

 

I really like the idea behind this installation.  It is an encouraging way for people to interact with each other in a new fun competitive way.  It allows for different music to be made each time people play the multi-touch wall.