Crafting? Crafting.

Roundtabling

Since the start of this project, the feedback I’ve gotten were mostly peers from the CID atelier and Andreas. Therefore, I decided to attend a roundtable session this week to understand what others thought about my work. Especially since Sonic Attunements comes from a more expressive and artsy perspective, I really wanted to know what other lecturers or peers from other ateliers thought about the overall concept and what I’ve done so far.

I was grouped with Yasser, Nicholas and Aprille for the session; a mix of different ateliers all at once, which made me a little nervous. Either way, I presented my current progress, including semester one work, to the group and kept my fingers crossed that everything was understandable. I reused the slides from Week 7, which had both semester one and semester two progress.

What they thought

The comments were quite varied, but relatively still the same. Nicholas (in charge of Technology, Media and Society) thought it would be interesting to dive into the technicalities of sound; for example, pitch, volume and tempo in music. For now, everything is purely auditory so it would be useful to express things in a visual and technical way, if appropriate. I’m not super sure about this, but I’ll think about it.

On the other hand, Aprille (in charge of Healthcare & Wellbeing) thought the vibrational platforms resonated well with her own project from her MA days; using sound as a tool to create somatic experiences. When she mentioned this, I got really excited, as she also mentioned using vibrations to help people overcome pain in the healthcare sector.

Nevertheless, in the bigger picture of things, something is missing to tie everything together. This is where the design aspect comes in - a communication aspect, where everything is bridged together better. Hearing this, I can’t help but sigh – its been an issue I’ve had since day one, and it doesn’t seem to be solved just yet.

What could be done better

Improvements wise, I could provide an overview of sound, explaining its benefits and effects on people. Giving new viewers more context would help them understand my work better, as right now, its more expressive rather than functional. Which isn’t a bad thing per se, just means I might have a harder time explaining why my project is important to others.

Lastly, Yasser (in charge of Design Advocacy and Community) thought that the overall grounding of the project could be done better. Narrative wise, all three experiments still function as standalone pieces. I need to explain the push behind the project, and how all my observations from my making and sound recording informed what I’ve done so far. On a good note, he enjoyed Vibrational Ground; and liked the idea of sound being expressed through vibration.

Forming shapes with foam

This week, I also obtained some upholstery foam which I planned to use for Vibrational Ground. I wanted to see if I could create textures on the foam, to convey the idea of the sound that each platform was representing.

Using a simple penknife and scissors, I crafted jagged and "sharp" shapes onto the foam, meant to mimic the rough acoustic texture of construction. In addition, I cut out circular shapes to represent the more fluid and organic sounds. For now, I'm not too sure about the shapes; it feels quite mismatched with the acrylic, and doesn't seem to fit in as well. I shall keep this in the archives for the time being...