balloon life, '00/ robotic balloon instrument, '01
Balloon Life / Robotic Balloon Instrument are a series of interactive sound pieces comprised of robotic, Mylar balloons. Some versions involve freely floating conglomerations of balloons that attempt to locate each other by alternately emitting and sensing sound. Other realizations involve human participants, who create sound by touching balloons built into tables and connected to robots that attempt to imitate the sounds visitors make as they touch the Mylar. The robots output their sound into either floating arrangements of balloons or speakers attached to a table.
To participate with the balloon instrument, one very gently presses a piezo transducer affixed to one of the mounted balloons with a finger of one hand, while simultaneously (and very gently) holding another piezo element with the thumb and a finger from the other hand. This creates a feedback loop where the natural electrical resistance of one's body has a direct effect on the sounds produced. The transducers convert a caress into an electrical impulse. By gently varying your touch one can create different sounds.
Here is a link to some video of me presenting this piece to some students while I was a visiting artist at Gettysburg College.
Please click on the links above for a quicktimes of these pieces.
Click Balloon Life or Balloon Instrument for an mp4.