User:Timoteo
Sensor Project: Magnetism
The project explores magnetism from a human point of view. In other words the project explores what we associate to magnetism, an invisible force that attracts or repel two points revealing an hidden unescapable dramaturgy.
As a first stage the team decided to reveal magnetism though sound, this stage featured:
- Building up four analog magnetic sensors and setting them on with magnets
- Computing Arduino patch to read the sensors and send the 4 values as ASCII to MAX MSP through serial port
- Computing MAX patch to read the ASCII code through serial port and re developing the values as volume control for 4 audio sources
This stage brought the team to acknowledge that the system was about revealing something, the system could slowly uncovering a message creating a dramaturgical tension of attraction. This tension was both governed by magnetism both governed by having a message appearing and disappearing.
As a second stage the team decided to compliment this tension by using a magnet setting the sensors by a pendular motion, this way at the beginning of the motion the magnet would briefly pass over the sensors and revealing short data of the message by then losing pendular motion and slowly setting over the magnets procedurally uncovering the message played as audio file. This stage featured:
- Improvising a Viola Sextet as a audio message
- Building up of a structure enabling to have a magnet as a pendulum and the four sensors as receivers
As a third stage I understood that the Sextet was not working out in the context. The Sextet, being an improvisation, ended up being a non narrative message. This caused problems once the piece was put in a conceptual context, as a non narrative message layering over another non narrative message often creates confusion and lack of depth. The third stage then featured:
- Recording of a stanza from "The Prometeus" by Shelley
As a conclusion, the narrative message layering over a conceptual landscape often works the best. The system slowly uncovers the stanza and this process creates a acceptable human analogy to magnetism.
