Interactive strings

OP_ERA: sonic dimension, by Daniela Kutschat and Rejane Cantoni, is an immersive installation designed as a music box. The box is a black, open cube filled with hundreds of visually identical violin-like strings. Tuned with the specific tension, each virtual string vibrates with a visual-sound frequency (light and sound waves) that varies according to its relative position and mode of interaction.

There are two modes of interaction:
- a 360º microphone collects the user’s sounds. A software analyses, filters and converts the sound into equivalent visual outputs. If the user sounds like an F, he will see the relative F frequencies vibrating as strings according to Pythagoreans principles,
- an array of sensors is used to detect the user’s position, allowing the system to interpret any action as a gravitational force. For example, when the user points to a string set, the action not only vibrates the selected strings, but it also changes the shape of space time.

More string with the Poetry Harp, an interactive installation commissioned by L’Oreal to David Small.

28 cords stretched from the ceiling to the floor below are each associated with a line of text from a poem about a woman’s worth. By plucking and pulling on the cords, visitors could release sinuous clouds of letters and billowing ribbons, projected on the opposite wall.

See also: Jen Lewin's Laser Harps and Improbable Orchestra.