Our interactions with technology are not limited to either the visual or the digital, two areas that frequently command a great deal of attention. CIID’s Intel-sponsored experimental workshops often seek to explore other areas of these experiences: the sonic realm, physical touch and texture, the learned cultural meanings and the expectations surrounding everyday objects.
CIID’s Research Resident Chris Wood orchestrated the workshop led by Intel Fellow Sha Xin Wei, which involved students first doing introductory training in microphones and sound design. A brief was then given for students to “annotate” different kinds of paper objects with sound. By making these objects respond to gesture, each was given a new character, and given a novel staging or performance.
The main technology used to sonify objects were piezo contact microphones. They were attached to paper objects to pick up impact and vibration. Groups of students completed eight different projects including creating a 3D topographical map which responded to touch; experimenting with the grain of different types of paper as detected by a record needle and creating an installation built from waste paper activated by a broom.
The students' investigations into the affordances offered by the relationship between paper and gesture will strongly inform the Intel Fellowship @ CIID project. We were able to inspire new approaches to our thinking and new possibilities for the age-old materiality of paper substrates. Thanks to Chris, Xin Wei and Intel, and of course the CIID students, for their efforts in putting together the class!
CIID’s Research Resident Chris Wood orchestrated the workshop led by Intel Fellow Sha Xin Wei, which involved students first doing introductory training in microphones and sound design. A brief was then given for students to “annotate” different kinds of paper objects with sound. By making these objects respond to gesture, each was given a new character, and given a novel staging or performance.
The main technology used to sonify objects were piezo contact microphones. They were attached to paper objects to pick up impact and vibration. Groups of students completed eight different projects including creating a 3D topographical map which responded to touch; experimenting with the grain of different types of paper as detected by a record needle and creating an installation built from waste paper activated by a broom.
The students' investigations into the affordances offered by the relationship between paper and gesture will strongly inform the Intel Fellowship @ CIID project. We were able to inspire new approaches to our thinking and new possibilities for the age-old materiality of paper substrates. Thanks to Chris, Xin Wei and Intel, and of course the CIID students, for their efforts in putting together the class!