Lean in to listen.

After Open Studios…what comes next?

The last few weeks felt like a mad rush, a scramble to complete my three main prototypes. There was the problem of rearranging things, ensuring all electronics were working, and ensuring a proper flow of visual content. Since my project had so many things to cover, I found it extremely difficult to tie everything together into one big narrative - a problem I’ve had since week 1 of the semester.

With Open Studios done, I was worried about the two upcoming milestones: Viva and Graduation show. Not worried about what I should present, but what I could. Since two of my prototypes were pretty big, I did not know how to progress from here as I thought some things needed to be removed or entirely documented.

Thankfully, I talked to Andreas and he said that for Viva, we can have up to two tables. For my work, I can still display my Intimate Acoustics setup (thankfully) and shortlist one or two platforms from Vibrational Ground for the final submission. The original setup from Open Studios could be printed into an A1 poster and hung up to provide context. The good thing about Viva Voce is that we could still show the full prototype and interaction directly; for the Lasalle Show, it would have to be static or pure documentation.

To get a gauge of how to set up my table for viva, I did a mock set up with my Soundwalk things – the listening score, journal-for-listening, and publication. This was accompanied by one platform from the Vibrational Ground setup; a signifcant difference, but when placed neatly on a wooden board, it looked okay. For Viva, I'm trying to go minimal as we only have 7 minutes to present, so my table will have to act as my presentation deck. Hence, everything should be kept as minimal as possible.

Gathering everything together

Ever since Open Studios ended, I’ve been finding myself at a loss, for some reason. Trying to tie together loose ends, and coming to a little existential crisis that viva voce was coming soon. I spent quite a bit of time thinking about how to present for viva, and eventually The Lasalle Show, and ended up overthinking things a little more than making…

Going back to Vibrational Ground, and the foam covers I wanted to do : I tried out a few foam textures, but felt that it still wasn’t working. For context, I wanted the foam as I thought I could carve out some textures that would better inform the context of the sounds playing through the platforms. I tried: Jagged textures to mimic the mechanical escalator noise, rounded circles to mimic slow breathing, waves for the natural sound of inside of a hollow tree.

With a previous pursuit with the foam, I realised that the foam started yellowing after exposure to air after a period of time. Hence, I decided to use soft cloth to cover up the foam, but it looked strange as well, a little too strong. After much deliberation, and opinions from friends, everyone thought that the matte acrylic finish was fine; hence, I have decided to leave it for the final look.