To Montreal and Back

We had a great trip to Montreal. RPI brought one huge pneumatic wall to which we interfaced our electronics. The installation became a whale-like creature, which breathed with the help of shop-vacs attached to each side of the wall.



A light sensor controlled the rate of breathing (this was the "breathing eye" of the creature). The whole structure would curve and lean to one side depending on which side of the wall was being inflated. Contacts placed between the air cells of the wall activated my electric typewriter and Chelsea's "Let's Pretend Elmo" doll. As the contacts were activated, the typewriter would record of the movement of the wall as keystrokes. A camera pointed at the typewriter sent video to a projector that projected the creature's writing onto the installation space and triggered its "breathing eye". Dana's magnetic tape head was attached to the typewriter and moved along a strip of magnetic tape as the carraige moved back and forth.



Elmo was embedded into the end cell of the structure and would spontaneously cry out and wiggle as its contacts were activated. Kyle's optical theremin was attached to Elmo, causing its sound output to vary in reponse to Elmo's movement and the movement of people in the space.



Seen as a whole, the installation could be seen as a strange beached whale, desperately calling for help using the typewriter, but not knowing the right keys to press. The creature generated cryptic whale songs using the magnetic tape head and optical theremin, while a partially digested Elmo wriggled inside.