A collection of 6 found sound recordings (including music from a vintage gramophone, a Bessie Smith recording, and birdsong recorded in the woods) play from inside an antique household savings bank purchased at a flea market. Visitors to the piece activate its sound content by blowing gently into the small apertures in the bank’s front lid. This breath input results in sounds that fade in through radio static, play for a few seconds, and fade out again. Interaction with the piece is intimate, a close, one-on-one experience of texture, sound, and physical response.
Visitors to the piece activate its sound content by blowing gently into the small apertures in the antique savings bank's front lid. Interaction with the piece is an intimate, one-on-one experience of texture, sound, and physical response.
The bank's six compartments are marked with their original typed and handwritten labels: "food," "automobile," "rent," etc. There is no clear correlation between the sound in each compartment and its label, an intentional ambiguity that invites listeners to formulate their own stories.
I used a mini condenser mic from Radio Shack and an Arduino Uno to create the breath sensors inside the piece. For Experiment One, I visualize the velocity of breath using Processing.
