Sonic Silhouettes
Jaithra Mallipeddi
Jaithra Mallipeddi
Medium: 3D Printed PLA, Infrared Sensors, Arduino Microcontroller
See it On Campus: Level 2
The installation is located on the second floor. After coming through the main ECU Campus entrance, walk through to the area in front of Rennie Hall.
Artist Statement
I am a designer and sound artist based in Singapore and Vancouver, whose work dwells in the intersection of sound and movement through space. I work to challenge the intricacies of daily interactions between us and the underlying systems that quietly keep everything in motion. I investigate these interactions as mediators of emotional and cultural experience, primarily through the medium of audiovisual installation, recorded music and 3D printing.
Sonic Silhouettes is my industrial design capstone project, exploring the introduction of auditory comfort into Vancouver’s Skytrain Stations, and designing voluntary spaces where all commuters can make their own experience of public transit. The outcome is a site-adaptable installation using sensor-reactive ambient music to facilitate grounding, gathering, and placemaking through the engagement of commuters.
The installation is powered by an arduino circuit. A proximity sensor controls reverb, so the music gets fuller and wider as one moves closer, and a motion sensor activates different layers. A temperature sensor drives the master volume, so as the station fills up with people between trains and the ambient temperature goes up, the volume decreases to allow more space for conversation.
The work contains three sonic elements, each for different levels of listening attention. First, ambient and in perpetuity, is a soft pad combined with a shruti, a drone sound used in Indian classical music for dance and meditation. The second layer, toggled by motion, is a pluck with a constant slow speed at randomized pitches. This is for a medium level of listening attention, patterned but not too dynamic. The final layer, also toggled by motion, is a moving pluck, with randomized speed mapped to the ambient temperature. This is for the most attentive listeners engaging with the installation.
With sound as my primary material, I strive for my work to be experienced sensorially, embodying a shift from the dissonant chaos typically associated with the rush of daily commuting to a deeper resonance with place and being. The tension between individual and communal autonomy holds a pivotal role in this project. Individuals are invited to make the experience of transit their own while still sharing public transport spaces with fellow commuters. I will continue to explore this phenomenon and see the project as a whole expand through further research this fall as a student in Emily Carr’s Masters of Design program.
