Deep (Remote) Observation

Ted Krueger from the Rensselaer School of Architecture (RPI) visited our department to give a couple of lectures. He stopped by our studio to talk about our projects from last term and where they are headed this term. We talked about the Deep Listening Device and this site that I have been looking at in Point Douglas:



The site is located on city property next to the CPR rail lines and the rail bridge that crosses Higgins. There is a chainlink fence that prevents access to the rail lines. The rail line is elevated above the natural grade of the area, and there is a small hill that provides a decent view of the trains next to the fence. There are a few utility poles on the site. One pole has a large metal box containing a circuit breaker and an electricity meter housing (the meter itself is missing).



Our current studio project is to adapt our devices and/or technologies from last term so they can exist in Point Douglas. I have been thinking about creating a number of devices that would listen and watch for trains and perhaps create a music from that. The devices would be integrated into the existing "fabric" of Point Douglas, hidden in plain sight. A device could live on the chainlink fence, looking for changes in light to determine the rhythm of a passing train. Some other device could listen for changes in sound level and signal the approach of a train.



Ted suggested the possibility of transmitting data about the trains back to our studio, where my in-progress "Deep Listening" Device would translate the presence, motion and rhythm of the trains into a music (kind of a remote listening or observing). Ted wondered about how the trains communicate, which I had not even considered.