res'onance-body [box] (2003)
Installation view as exhibited at Gallery Barry Keldoulis, 2003. Photo by Julia Charles.
res’onance-body [box] was an immersive installation project initiated by Karina Clarke in collaboration with Julia Charles and George Khut, with additional assistance from Jon Drummond and Luiz Pampolha.
The show was presented as part of the inaugural Sydney Esquisse 2003 festival of contemporary design, art and street culture, and was awarded two first prizes for best-in-category for the festival exhibition themes of No place like it and Mother Love.
Audiences entered into the installation via a long corridor dramatically illuminated with a colour changing LED lighting system (provided by Xenian) which continued into the main installation space: a medium sized room furnished with a bed-like platform covered in a deep shag-pile fabric, and a large floor-to-ceiling relief panel located at the end of the bed/platform.
Audiences interacted with the work one at a time, reclining on their backs on the bed/platform, with a breath sensor (respiratory strain gauge) attached around their chest or abdomen, and pulse sensor (infra-red pulse plethysmograph) fitted to their index finger. Non-participating visitors or participants-in-waiting were able to observe the installation on seating located to the rear of the centrally located bed/platform.
res’onance-body [box] installation view as exhibited at Gallery Barry Keldoulis, 2003. Photo by Julia Charles.
A running average of the participants’ breath rate was calculated according to chest or abdominal movements sensed with the respiratory strain gauge, and the resulting estimations were used to navigate a continuum of electronic drone and noise textures responding to breathing rates between fifteen (fast) and five (very slow) breaths per minute. In general, faster breath rates where mapped to higher frequency textures, and slower breathing patterns to lower frequency textures. Peaks and troughs in breath related movements were indicated with a quiet bell-like tone.
Heartbeats were measured with an infra-red pulse plethysmograph, and used to trigger a short pulse sound that was a combination of sub-bass and ultra-high frequency tones at the thresholds of audibility (30-60 Hz and 11000-15000 Hz). Changes in estimated heart rate were used to increase or decrease the pitch of this pulse sound by a small, but nevertheless discernable amount.
Exhibition Dates
Gallery Barry Keldoulis (GBK) Client Viewing Room
1/42-44 Meager Street, Chippendale, Sydney, Australia
November 28th to 30th, 2003
Production credits:
Karina Clark – installation design, initiating artist and producer
Julia Charles – installation design and construction
George Poonkhin Khut – installation design, and production
Luiz Pampolha – LED lighting-system programming and production
Jon Drummond – Data analysis algorithms (Max-MSP)
Angelo Fraietta – customised adjustable CV-MIDI device for heart and breath sensors
Barry Keldoulis – gallery director, Gallery Barry Keldoulis (Sydney)
Xenian Living Light – LED colour-changing architectural lighting hardware