UCLA (Fall 2002)

Current State of Technology (Benjamin Bratton)

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  projects by Daniel Sauter    
       
Embeded Sound Project audio-spotlight spotlight.sit (MAC ,9.1 MB)  
  launch audio-spotlight application spotlight.zip (PC ,29.9 MB)  
  soundsticker sticker.sit (MAC ,6.8 MB)  
  launch sounsticker application sticker.zip (PC ,6.9 MB)  
       
  AUDIO-SPOTLIGHT    
     
 

Three Audiospotlight-devices which allow to focus and direct sound on specific spaces are installed parallel in a public place (entrance situation, busstop etc.)

Each device contains one track of narrative:
no1: present, actual CNN news headlines
no2: the day before
no3: headlines from days, weeks and months before (shuffled).

The installation texts are delivered daily from CNN US/Europe/Asia
http://www.cnn.com/EMAIL/quicknews.text.html
http://europe.cnn.com//EUROPE/email/sample.txt
http://asia.cnn.com/EMAIL/ASIA/sample.txt

every day the text in the present-track is updated, the text of the day before goes to the past track, the former past track goes into a headline database which provides simultaniously a randomized shuffle of headlines for the historical track, an ongoing cycle.

 

   
 

DESCRIPTION

Referring to Katherine Hayles' book 'Writing Machines' this installation is about
Hypertext ('Technotext') with the following characteristics:
multiple reading paths,
chunked text,
a linking mechanism

Multiple reading paths are generated by people moving through this space, generating their own individual 'story'. The installation would force people to stop and listen in order to hear the original headlines, while moving throug the space the combination of several news-headlines destroys the original meaning, but creates a familiar soundscape out of single words, expressions and create seemingly 'real' messages.
Because of the equal structure, repeating topics and the connection between the messages themselves, the experienced informaiton is seemingly familiar. And because it is the spoken word which is experienced, not written text, this new combination (falsification) or the 'truth' happens smoothly in the mind of the people. Certanly the way how reality and truth is communicated an consumed ist questioned in this installation.
The linking mechanism is the person moving or waiting her/himself. The responsibility how combinations happen, how information is connected and remembered is given to the spectator.
The process of passing from actuality and present into past which is in the third track nonlinear shuffled deconstructs common perception structures like 'live', 'new', 'today', blurres this information soundscape and raises questions about how news/events are structured.

   
       
  SOUNDSTICKER    
     
 

This sound project operates with the SOUNDSTICKER, a very cheap (4 USD) mini mpeg-player device playing up to 15 minutes sound.

In this piece the specific spacial distribution of 5 devices is the main idea. Each device is playing synchronized fragments of a sound which are restored and resampled by passing people.