String Oscillator Installation Test

This was an experiment with the String Oscillators to see how they might work as an installation piece. Some consideration was given to the appearance of the devices as I was unhappy with the decoration on the sweet tins I had used in their construction. Although it was important to me to show their simplicity and not to embellish anything I decided to paint over the graphics with a matt grey. I just felt the branding on the tins was distracting and I wanted to give them a utilitarian feel, almost minimalist, rather than a Heath Robinson botch job. I also began by setting them up in the first experiment as I a kind of sculpture, even experimenting with lighting. I created a “cluster” of 9 devices at the bottom of a stair-well, the intention being that you would hear the sound as you entered the stairs and then would investigate the source of the noise. I also want to use the acoustic properties of the space, which was very reflective and lively. Just as soon as I had set it up I had to take it down on grounds of fire safety, the stairs being a fire escape, even though there were vast amounts of room.

Following this I then set it up in the canteen/coffee machine area with one device on each table. This had the effect of bringing out their individual qualities, as you could move around to space and examine each machine, essentially changing to the mix of the overall sound. The environment of the canteen also gave the piece a more “gentler”, meditative feel, less factory/industrial than the test in the grubby abandoned stair-well. At this point I started to exchange the parcel string strummers with thin electrical wire which ramped up the volume nicely. Most people drank their coffees elsewhere.

The most successful test was in another stair-well, with a couple of machines placed on each level. The sound it generated was very dense, a column of temple throbbing of drones that filled the space. Moving up and down the stairs changed the mix of the sound, passing through levels of differing tones. Some of the guitar strings snapped during the experiment highlighting the maintenance issues with the piece, it is not something I could just setup and leave, even if I could replace the batteries with power adapters. As with the Steam Machines there is an element of performance through the maintenance of the devices and also adjusting them to experiment with different sound qualities. This something that is more suited to a durational performance than an installation.