Video - Lights Out + Sound
The Pneumatic/Electronic Installation
The pneumatic wall that the RPI group brought from NY had a strong sense of progression, and we decided early on that we should use this to our advantage. The space that we were working in at Concordia was a room typically used for blue screen filming and effects; the stark white walls and curved corners allowed for a more interesting niche at the end of our wall. As the pneumatic wall was curved on various planes, the walls of the room complemented this greatly.
The structure and the electrical components changed throughout the workshop, and this evolution informed our overall concept. The wall was therefore seen as an autonomous, living entity.
The pneumatic itself consisted of two separate air chambers, which allowed for the wall to curve in one of two directions, depending on the which side was inflated. An optical sensor and relay were connected to two vacuums, and as the projected light changed, the relay switched on one or the other vacuum. Each hose was connected to one of the separate air systems; when one air source was off and the other on, the wall gently curved.
As the wall curved, it set of a variety of sensors - some of which were connected to the elmonic-theramin creation, and others to the keys of the electronic typewriter. As elmo's sensors were set off, the motor rotated, and the sound of the theramin oscillated accordingly. A voice-distortion kit was wired into elmo to abstract his words, allowing for only a few distinguishable words each time he spoke.
The key sensors of the electronic typewriter served to record the movement of the wall, but also as the opus of the entity. The magnetic tape head and tape were connected to the typewriter, and played distorted music as the machine completed a line and returned to the beginning.
A video camera was set to record the typing, and projected in real-time the footage. We worked with some basic computer-programming to switch the footage from it's original black and white state to the inverse (negative) - ultimately white background with black text, to a black background with white text. The optical sensor connected to the relay was positioned to sense the light output from the projector, and informed the vacuums that inflated each side.
Ultimately, the electronics were used so that they could interact with the pneumatic, and conceptually come full circle to allow the installation to act as one, autonomous piece. ~Chelsea Grant, lpb: studio documentation and reflection 2006
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