This piece aims to represent the part of the street you normally don't see, don't hear and don't notice. In this project we invite people to explore hidden parts of the street and share anonymously secrets and thoughts. We though that this spontaneous information collected from the pedestrians and from the street usage could reveal a bit more about the personality of the street and, doing so, contribute to understand its dynamic and functioning. Another aspect that was interesting for us is that people could recognize themselves in this piece as part of the street. Using the street, people give life and meaning to it and “Achterstraat” tries to represent this idea in a tangible way.

Functioning

Spread around on the north part of Voorstraat Street we fixed six silicon ears with a pre-amplified microphone embedded. These microphones were connected via cable to an audio interface that was connected to a computer running MAX/MSP. The computer was connected to an Arduino microcontroller that makes the interface with the physical textile map of the street trough touch sensors . The touch sensors are attached to the map via conductive thread that was embroidered on the fabric. When someone touches the embroider it activates the touch sensor that triggers the sound collected by the microphones’ network and recorded by the computer system. A speaker hanged behind the piece broadcasts the sound.

Exhibitions

2010

21 to 23 May - Urban Explorers Festival in Dordrecht (Netherlands).
http://www.urbanexplorersfestival.nl

Credits

Javier Busturia (ES), Jigni Wang (CN), Ricardo O'Nascimento (BR) and Jelle Dekker (NL).