I used the five prototype circuits to build a walk-in sphere of 40 speakers. The speakers were attached to nylon strings stretched from the ceiling to the ground, so you could bend them aside to step in. In an effort I provided a crude interface in PD that provided a joypad for people inside the sphere to select different programs, such a random, sound going in circles, etc.

Contentwise, we had placed a call for content, which resulted in one piece that was handed to me and which worked quite well. I have yet to get the adress of the composer to thank him again ;)

The result was quite to my liking and so was the feedback (apart from nobody understanding the interface, but in the end that didn’t matter much). The sphere was fun to use. I personally found it pretty dizzying standing inside the speakers while the sound came from a different direction every 25 milliseconds. Unfortunately, as of now there are no pictures to show. The  installation stood at LEAP only for two days, in which I had forgotten to bring my camera. Hopefully I will find someone of the PDCON who made good ones.

[UPDATE: pictures of the building process and a picture from a mobile phone (thanks ckp and astring!)]

a picture by astring

in action. the nylon-strings could be bent apart to step inside. (pic by ckp)

arrangement of the circuits

some notes

more notes

0.2beta

I started the project “Diskokugel” in autumn 2009. The vision was to build a ball made of speakers that can be turned on and off individually. This ball would turn while sound would be “reflected” in one constant direction, just like light from a mirrorball. So I went to the [sublab], a hacker space I am co-founder of, and asked for help. I got it galore from Christian, who volunteered to design a circuit that would both be cheap and easy to build.

Meanwhile, I was looking for ways to find cheap speakers.

0.1 alpha

I thought, I could take advantage of the German recycling system, checking the places where people deposit electronic trash, which are administrated locally by the cities. There I was told that it is forbidden for the personnel to let people take some trash, so I wrote a letter to the city to ask if they could grant me access. They told me, that they only administer those places and that the actual trash is owned by some kind of foundation, so they are not allowed to touch it. When I wrote a letter to that foundation, they wrote back that they, too, are not in fact owner of that waste and cannot allow me to take parts of it away to use them, nor could they tell me who to ask. In fact, it would be easier to ask electronics shops, because they are obliged to take in electronic trash and could maybe grant me access to it.

Five boards to run tests

I decided to end my investigations at that point, being afraid to end up in the sicilian sea with concrete shoes. Better not mess with waste management… That made me look for commercial alternatives and led me to the purchase of 1500 chrome speakers from Hangzhou, China. This transaction was preceded by a tiring process of bargaining, exchanging samples, managing shipping costs and import regulations. By the end of that time I had moved to Berlin and the first circuit board from Christian had long been tested.

Now, that the actual size of the speakers (diameter: 50mm) was clear, I started constructing the actual object. I had to find out that my goal to distribute as many circles (speakers) on a sphere as possible is a still unsolved mathematical problem (see [Tammes Problem]. So I ordered a styrofoam ball with the targeted size (40cm in diameter) and started to experiment. I found a solution and later on a mathematical proof that shows that my solution is the most I could make of what I had. It’s 200 speakers on a ball that size. My solution, in the end, was to work with the pattern of a [truncated icosahedron], also known as: soccer ball. This was during the World Championship, of course :)  I started soldering.

soldering 0.1 Alpha

I took regular wire you use in the garden and electronic solder and soldered everything on top of the styrofoam ball I had purchased. It took about 3 days to get the first version done, which rolled of my bed and burst into pieces one day later. This wasn’t as unfortunate as one might think, because it was a different pattern than the one I’m using now. Another day of work and the current version was done. I glued speakers to it to have an idea of what it would look like in the end. The result was quite satisfying.

Not pretty. But robust.

The crash of the first model had shown that the ball constructed from wire rings wouldn’t support itself (at least not if it was built the way I did it). There was also still the need to find a place for the required circuit boards. I was looking for some kind of connection from the center to the outside. So I used an icosahedron, connecting each of its 12 corners to the pentagons on the surface. I found a way to solder a more or less exact icosahedron. Actually, I wanted the thing welded for more stability, but a series of unfortunate events (I have a magic talent to break things. It is contagious) led to the return to the good old electronic solder. It’s done.

From the inside you can see the chrome bodies

To increase the sound quality I needed bodies for the speakers. I kept looking for something cheap and convenient such as yoghurt cups until, suddenly, christmas arrived and the solution hung in front of my nose: Christmas balls. The chrome look of these will make it even better.

Speakers, switchboard and Arduino connected.

With the basic construction issues solved, I turned back to the electronics. I programmed an interface in [PD] to interface with the [Arduino] that takes care of the serial communication and controls the switching process. The control circuit has a part built in that synchronizes the switching of speakers with the zero phase of the audio signal. This is supposed to prevent the Speakers from cracking when being switched on or off. Technically, this works perfect, but cracking still occurs. It’s mostly audible when playing pure sine waves or when switching really fast. We are still looking for the source of this and hopefully will resolve the problem soon (or choose to ignore it). Then, a series of circuit boards can be produced and we are close to finishing the whole thing. About time, if you ask me.

Upon invitation to contribute to the Popupshop exhibition in Frankfurt/Main, and on short notice, I equipped a stuffed-toy Cookie Monster with a theremin. I used a “Minimum Theremin,” based on the design on Art’s Theremin Page. I added an amplifier and an old loudspeaker that I found in my father’s basement. When the belly is pressed, the Cookie Monster starts to mewl (in German, “quäken”) according to the intensity of the pressure. The heavy head instinctively makes people handle it like a baby.

> minimal_theremin.zip (zip file schematics and layout as .gif)

> Art’s Theremin Homepage (this is where the original schematic came from. There’s a thorough documentation, further texts and theremin schematics. Art is very nice and helpful with questions)

There is a human urge for freedom and security. It is a fundamental contradiction that keeps us occupied permanently. In mundane situation, political decisions or relationships – we’re constantly forced to make a compromise and sacrifice one for the other. I associate this contradictional urge with the characteristic of water to embrace the human body while not holding on to it.

The contradiction that exists  on land doen’t exist under water. I can move freely in all three dimensions without the fear of falling.

The first of two rooms in Dive! II is supposed to make people aware of this characteristic of water.  With a projection of a water surface viewed from below, it simulates a surrounding under water. The absence of weightlesness as the main difference between simulation and reality is supposed to emphasize this characteristic.

In the second room a big water basin is used to demonstrate that our body is alienated from the element. What we were missing in the first room is a utopia we will never experience in its pure form.

With these two rooms Dive! II creates two worlds, one above and one below the water surface, that can communicate through the element. Thus it is possible for the visitor to get involved with the installation in a playful way.

> Diplom Thesis (.pdf – 4,7 mb german) (Layout: Ricarda Porzelt)

> Sketchbook (.pdf – 38 mb)

For the puppet theatre piece “Kafka – der zerrissene Fisch” (Kafka – the torn fish) I produced a video showing Kafka on a public reading. The video was projected as an epilogue at the end of the piece.

(Andreas Hillger, Mitteldeutsche Zeitung 24.01.06)

In Felix Ensslin and Brock Enrights production of Friedrich Schillers “The Robbers” the camera displays the subconciousness of the characters and the person in whose dream all things on stage happen. In the first part of the play, the screen is, partly explicit and partly on an abstract level,  stage for inner conflicts and phantasies.

Apart from doing the live camera on stage, I supported the directors in the conception of the video and by designing video scenes on and behind stage. I emphasized on giving the live video individual aesthetics far from common home video.

To work intuitively I modified my Panasinoc MV-GS400 with a cusom made handle, dimmable light and custom batterie pack.

Excerpts of “The Robbers” by Schiller, Thomas Mann and Nietsche were read by actors accompanied by noise music and videos by Brock Enright. In the last third of the performance a woman “kidnapped” by Enright was tortured and filmed within her own staging of a kidnapping.

The pictures of my camera were projected on a big screen fron stage. I filmed in extreme close-up so the details sometimes blurred into undefinable textures giving way for the imagination of the audience. The audience was tricked into wanting to see more of what it believed was an act of violence it actually rejected to see. Finally, the woman was dragged into the projection by her “kidnappers”, together producing a shadow sculpture within their own image.

EyesWeb-patch for an interactive installation. A live recorded video loop can be manipulated in length and speed by body movements.

Timebouncing is the result of the class “eyes open” by Lars Wieneke. The class was an introduction into the free software EyesWeb and explored the possibilities in processing optical signals. I designed this installation and wrote the required patch.

The installation works on two levels. A person can record a video, using body movements to control the recording. In a second step, it can manipulate speed, length and position of the recorded loop with body movement and position.

A complete description of the installation and a documantation of the patch can be found here (.pdf german).

Those who didn’t make it to the festival could get some festival-atmosphere at home by listening to our internet stream.

2005 Frequenzwechsel was on air for the first time at the SonneMondSterne-Festival. Resonance by both visitors and the internat audience (at peak times up to 400 people listeners!) was very positive. Motivated by our success we decided to keep streaming on a regular basis independently  on a biweekly basis.

The program emphasized on the presentation of elektronic music projects, especially from eastern germany, particularly (free) net music and related topics. The conten of these broadcasts was presented within the second assignment at the SonnMondSterne festival in 2006.

Frequenzwechsel Logo designed by Tobias Krotz