sound installation
Wireless Women is an interactive sculpture in public space consisting of three to ve networked objects. Each object is made from recycled fabric and reminds of female, whale-shaped bodies. Each is about 2 meters long and 50 cm wide, lying on the oor in 20 meters distance from another, stued with soft material.
When the body is touched or tilted only the two other bodies react, while the one that was actually interacted with remains inactive. The soft whale form will invite the user to actually sit on the sculpture. The movement on one body triggers sounds and voices in the other networked bodies, the increase of movement leads to an increase in volume.
The user listens to a narration that’s based on voices by women, telling about their experiences of recovery after actions of violence. The sound is edited from snippets of interviews in English. Sending out signals, receiving subtle information quietly, the bodies communicate changes in their environment to each other. The dynamics of passiveness play against the politics of networks. Wireless resonances of violence.
Technology
Each of the portable bodies is sending and receiving data over a specific radio frequency. The skin and body is sensing interaction and processes the data via Arduino. Arduino is equipped with an Xbee board that broadcasts the incoming and processed data to the other bodies. The XBee can also receive the incoming data from the other XBees implemented in the sculpture. The wireless reception of data triggers sound that in- and decreases in connection to registered movement by the other body’s sensors.
Concept
Wireless Women creates a network that plays with the silence that usually comes with violence against women. The stories told by women in the interviews can only be heard if there is engagement with the whole network of sculptures, not the individual sculpture alone. Together, the voices achieve an active quality and generate a soundscape of shared knowledge.
Electronic Circuit inside:
Apr 29, 2008
