Supplemental Shrubbery Sound Source
An array of motion sensitive modules is installed along a section of a nature trail. When someone walks past, the modules emit sounds which supplement the sounds occurring naturally in the environment. The sound samples are arranged along the path in a sequence which proceeds from the most "natural" to the most "man-made". The effect varies depending upon which way one happens to be moving along the path. At the "natural" end, it is not clear whether what one is hearing is part of the installation or part of the (natural) landscape.
The Schuylkill
Center for Environmental Education
Hagy's Mill Road, Philadelphia, PA
May 6 - October 30, 2007
Remote is an interactive environmental installation containing a range of sound and visual effects. Installed in an outdoor space, the installation is activated, controlled, and navigated using a common household remote control which may be supplied by the viewer.
The piece takes the form of an intervention in an outdoor space, along a street or in a small park. There’s an “insider” element to the installation since, when not activated, its location may not be immediately apparent to a passerby. Additionally, the viewer needs to know to bring a remote to the location to bring the secret to life.
Gallery
Joe Bird Park
3rd and Arch Streets, Philadelphia, PA
9 September – 30 December 2006
SPEAKHERE!
A collaboration with
Nicole Cousino.
"Part A" of this installation is a sculpture containing a microphone situated on a busy street corner. "Part B", comprises an array of speakers and was installed along a trail in a park two kilometers away. The speakers in the park continuously broadcast whatever sounds occur at the street site.
Based loosely on the concept of the Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park, London, SPEAKHERE! differs in that it provides the speaker/participant with anonymity. It offers the liberation and empowerment of expressing one’s self in public without the neurosis of being on view before a listening audience. At the same time, when speaking into the “hole” one never knows if there is anyone listening on the other end. The installation serves as an experiment into the ways that technological devices can warp public space and influence human behavior.
From a information theory standpoint the system is also interesting and somewhat ironic. It facilitates communications by applying a conscious amputation of technology. A two-way audio link could easily have been established between the two sites or even a real-time, full-duplex, high-definition video link. The power of the work however, comes not from the use of technology to maximize connectivity, but from the inherent restrictions placed upon the information channel.
Madrid
Abierto, Madrid, Spain, 2/2006
PSWAR Gallery,
Amsterdam, Netherlands, 5/2006
Coin-op
Assemblage
Flashing lights, bells, whistles, a car horn, two prepared TVs, strobe
lights, multiple Jacob's ladders, and a fan.
Twenty five cents
is all it takes to activate this homage to
Rauschenberg, Tinguely, and the Musee
Mecanique.
The
Off the Wall Gallery at Dirty Franks
13th and Pine Streets
Philadelphia, PA
April thru May 2006
Regret box consists of a push button switch and speaker mounted on an aluminum plate. The switch and speaker are connected to an embedded microcontroller and a text to speech converter. The software on the microcontroller contains a database of “regrets” which were collected by the artist (personally recorded and gathered from friends). When a viewer presses the button a regret is released – solemnly spoken by the computer voice.
(10"x14") 3/2002
Cube
By picking up the Cube and rotating it, the user modifies the sound
and light in the room. The (over 500) samples in this installation were
gathered from a wide range of sources including police scanners, popular
music, short wave and CB radio, and by using peer-to-peer networks to
search the internet for randomly (inadvertently?) shared audio files.
The broad range of sources references the instrumental use of sound
samples in music as well as common (mundane) technological interactions
such as channel surfing or tuning across a radio band. For me the piece
is also a study in the design of ambiguous but suggestive user interfaces.
(5"x5"x5") 5/2004
Gauntlet
Three speakers, 3 motion sensors, 337 sound effects. Constructed for
the "Faux Show" at the University City Science Center Klein
Gallery, Philadelphia, PA.
(6'x6'x2'") 10/2005
"Chris Vecchio's sneaky, motion-activated sound piece emitting the startling noises of breaking glass, barking dogs, burping, and 334 other sounds, is, of course, the crowd pleaser. Imagine a faux Tony Oursler, minus the visual effects."
- Edith Newhall, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Dec. 02, 2005
A telephone is installed on the exterior of a building in an area of pedestrian traffic. A motion sensor senses when people walk past and causes the phone to ring. When someone answers it, a voice begins reading one of three love letters each of which begins with the line “Every day I think of you”. The private becomes public. The technology simultaneously facilitates both communication and anonymity. The ringing phone stands as a forlorn icon, reaching out hoping someone will listen.
Window to
the past
A 3 minute audio delay line situated in a public restroom. At any given
time the viewer is hearing whatever happened in the room 3 minutes prior.
By its nature, the portal can also be used to “leave a message for
the next person in (the bathroom) line”. Window to the Past
addresses issues of privacy, surveillance, and the supposed neutrality
of technological devices.
The impact of this installation,
as well as Bridging the Gender
Gap described below, is accentuated by its location which constitutes
a “quasi-private” space and which provides an element of surprise
to the interaction. Both works encourage and coerce participation with
technology. Their nature draws people into interaction with technology
and into interaction with each other in a way mediated by the technology.
Questions are raised regarding:
· technology’s
mediation of environments
· the nature of public versus private spaces
· the privacy-invasion implications of electrical technology
· voluntary versus coercive interactions with technology
Installed in the bathroom at the Painted Bride Art Center as part of the September 1999 Philadelphia Visual Fringe festival.
Bridging
the Gender Gap
An intercom system is installed between a men’s restroom and a women’s
restroom. The intercom is designed such that either side may choose between
talking or listening but neither can disable the device. Participants
are forced unwittingly to become voyeurs but at the same time the technology
facilitates both communication and anonymity.
Installed in the restrooms at Paddy's Pub, 228 Race Street, as part of
the September 1999 Philadelphia Visual Fringe festival.
Low power radio transmitter driven by a text-to-speech voice synthesizer reciting poems. In addition to the irony of the “objective” computer orator reading poetry, I like the idea that the sculpture is, in a sense, huge as it extends out into electromagnetic space covering approximately a 4 block radius.
(8½"x14"x8") not including antenna 8/1998