Looking Outwards 9 Liz Maday

I am using 1 of my grace days for this late submission.

For this Looking Outwards post, I was inspired by Kai Zhang’s post on Kinetic Generative Music Installation (2017) by Andrius Sarapovas. This project creates an environment that you walk into, which contains various forms of instruments that create sounds meant to represent connections to a 4G network in Lithuania. There are a lot of features of the instrumental setup that correlate to the amount of data being processed and the number of connections to the network. The setup was also designed to take into account the size and features of the space it was built in. I think that this installation is a really cool idea, something I would want to experience myself. I like how the experience of this project has the potential to meet the expectations of the subject, or to make them view big data in a new way. I agree with Kai’s assessment that this exhibit made something relatively “cold” such as data connections into something “warm” like the echoing music which was produced. I think that this project could also have the effect of making the subject feel as if they are “part of something bigger”, through the experience of literally walking within the space and experiencing something that creates a sonic collage of interconnected events which are happening in the world. I also appreciated the pleasant nature of the sound that was created – for example, the designer could have chosen to make the sounds more harsh or pointed, but this richer sound has a more welcoming and relaxing effect on the listener. I think that this choice reflects the designer’s intent with this piece.