Project Maker (s): Giacomo Lepri and Alessia Milo
Country/Area: Barcelona, Spain and Eindhoven, Netherlands
Links to the Maker: Website
Maker Bio:
Giacomo Lepri is a musician, composer and PhD student at Center for Digital Music (C4DM) researching creative media and exploring new forms of art production through digital materials. His artworks and research have been presented in vanues such as Institute of Sonology – The Hague, ZKM – Karlsruhe, IEM – Graz, Ars Electronica – Linz, STEIM – Amsterdam, IRCAM – Paris, Guildhall School of Music – London, China Conservatory of Music – Beijing, MediaLab Prado – Madrid, Bauhaus University – Weimar.
Alessia Milo is an architect researching the acoustics of spaces and the sonic interactions they promote using graphic notation, e-textile maps, and soundwalks. Her underlying interest in crafting performative experiences has often brought her to question the intrinsic mediality of technology. This friction has driven the generation a number of uncanny creatures such as augmented brooms, winged mirroring entities, chaotic AV interfaces, and FFT-based spectral shapes on walls and musicians.
Project Name: Chowndolo
Project Introduction:
The Chowndolo was conceived as an interactive experience: the scuplture can be played like an instrument and audience participation is crucial. The magnets below the pendulum can be arranged to compose new shapes: different configurations will modify the pendulum oscillations and the generated sonorities. The unstable patterns produced by the pendulum oscillations are transformed into sound, articulating a music that evolves based on the pendulum’s motion.
The magnetic fields and their interactions are revealed through nuanced tones, acting as counterpoint to the pendulum’s dance. The installation aims to make visible the invisible, letting us feel forces that we are not able to perceive. The sounds generated are entirely based on FM synthesis whose sound parameters are controlled by sensing the variations in the magnetic field. According to Faraday’s law of induction, a variation in the magnetic field generates an induced electromagnetic force. This force is then amplified by a custom-designed preamp and the resulting signal is sent to a Bela board where it is processed before the audio being sent to the output.
The Chowndolo is a tribute to John Chowning, a pioneer in the field of Computer Music mostly known for his electroacoustic compositions, the discovery of FM synthesis and research on voice and instrument synthesis. During the development of the Chowndolo, we were lucky enough to welcome John Chowning to our lab and show him the project. He provided precious comments for the improvement of both the sensing technique and the FM synthesis implementation.
Special Thanks
to Maker Music Festival for inviting this amazing project to exhibit on Maker Faire Shenzhen 2021.
