Metaphase Sound Machine

Questa splendida e inusuale macchina sonora è stata progettata e costruita dal media-artist russo Dmitry Morozov (aka ::vtol::).

The Metaphase Sound Machine is a kind of homage to the ideas of the American physicist Nick Herbert who in the 1970s has created both Metaphase Typewriter and Quantum Metaphone (a speech synthesizer). These were some of the first attempts to put the phenomenon of quantum entanglement in practice and one of the first steps towards the creation of a quantum computer. The experimental devices, however, had not confirmed theoretical research, and Herbert’s obsession with metaphysics resulted in the publication of several of his works on the metaphysical in quantum physics, that have led to a serious loss of interest to the ideas of quantum communication. One day, in a course of his experiments, Herbert has hacked into an university computer trying to establish a contact with the spirit of illusionist Harry Houdini at the day of the centenary of his birth.

In his device Herbert in order to achieve a quantum entangled state used as a source radioactive thallium, which was controlled by the Geiger radiation counter. The time interval between pulses was chosen as conversion code. Several psychics had participated in the experiments. They tried to influence the endless stream of random anagrams arising from a typewriter or cause “the ghost voice” to be heard out of metaphone. Scientists also have conducted sessions to bring about the “spirit” of a colleague who had recently died, and who knew about this typewriter. In 1985 Herbert wrote a book about metaphysical in physics. In general, his invention and articles quite severely compromised the ideas of quantum communication in the eyes of potential researchers and by the end of the XX century no any substantial progress in this direction was observed.

The Metaphase Sound Machine is an object with 6 rotating disks. Each of the discs is equipped with acoustic sound source (a speaker) and a microphone. Each of the microphones is connected via computer and the rotary axis to the speakers on the disks. Also in the center of installation a Geiger-Mueller counter is set, that detects ionizing radiation in the surrounding area. The intervals between these particles influence rotation velocity of each of the disks. Essentially the object is an audio- and kinetic installation in which a sound is synthesized based on feedbacks, produced by microphones and speakers on rotating discs. Feedback whistles are used as triggers for more complex sound synthesis. Additional harmonic signal processing, as well as the volatility of the dynamic system, lead to the endless variations of sound. The form of the object refers to the generally accepted symbolic notation of quantum entanglement as a biphoton – crossing discs of the orbits.

Dmitry Morozov

Un altro video sullo stesso soggetto.

::vtol::

RAM: Reactor for Awareness in Motion

Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM) has played an active role in cultivating creative and research environments to support the art & technology of the next generation. Since 2011, we have carried out “Reactor for Awareness in Motion (RAM)”, a research project for developing tool for dance creation and education, with Yoko Ando, a dancer from The Forsythe Company, a leading contemporary dance company and programmers from Japan and the US. Professionals in dance and technology shared an innovative concept in dance and developed it in the form of a physical tool and workshop. It is a revolutionary project in the sense that the technology is not only for theatrical effect, but also to embody one of the very natures of dance and communicate it with the world. What we witness is a technological inquiry into the nature of dance. Customized based on the perspectives of the dancer, the digital tool writes a new chapter in the history of experience in dance and technology.

RAM Dance Toolkit is a C++ creative coding toolkit to create environments for dancers. This toolkit contains a GUI and functions to access, recognize, and process motion data to support creation of various environmental conditions (called “scene”) and gives real time feedbacks to dancers using code in an easy way.
MOTIONER is the inertial motion capture system developed for RAM. The computer captures the dancer’s movements via 18 sensors attached to the dancer’s body. In general, motion capture systems are very expensive and very accurate, or very cheap and very inaccurate. To address this problem we designed one which is relatively low in cost and fairly accurate.

 

RAM and MOTIONER are licensed under Creative Common and can be downloaded from this page.