Background Context

This piece is called Waves by Daniel Palacios and was created in 2006. It was commissioned by Nike, Adidas, London Science Museum, Centra Andaluz de Arte, and Contemporaneo. It has been exhibited at the National Art Museum of China, Ars Electronica, ZKM, and MEIAC, among others. This piece visually and aurally illustrates sound waves in response to audience presence and movement.

Components

This effect is mechanized by a length of rope strung between two oscillating motors such that waves are generated along the length of rope in response to the number of people in the room and their movements. A demonstration video can be seen below.

Performance

This piece was awarded by the VIDA Art and Artificial Life International Competition, a long-standing prestigious international arts competition. The author Daniel Palacios has this piece displayed prominently on the homepage of his personal website. It is understood and clear to see that this beautiful piece is a great success.

Conclusion

With simple components and a simplistic, yet beautiful design, Waves illustrates powerfully something we all may experience consciously or subconsciously. This piece will change into chaotic waveforms producing discordant noise with many people in the room moving around erratically. However in front of a sole observer with perhaps more gentile movement, a more harmonic sound can be heard and wave can be seen. This I think the author uses to illustrate a sense of a chaotic energy in a room with many people acting erratically, contrasted with when in the presence of someone you’re comfortable with the energy in the room is much more harmonic. The author uses Waves to dynamically and interactively show the observer through sight and sound what these “vibes” (as they’re colloquially known) are like in plain sight and sound.