It’s been said that a quiet bike is a well-maintained bike. That may be true, but musical bikes are much more fun.
“Cyclic” takes a normal, functional bike, and extends it into a string instrument.
It requires little effort to play. Rather, the cyclist produces music passively with “Cyclic”. As they pedal, they strum the strings.
Cycling is a very rhythmic activity. “Cyclic” takes these rhythms, and turns them into melodies.
What I have created is a way for the user to experience music up close and personal without the need for headphones. “Sound Personal” is a Wireless Stereo Speaker System embedded into a backpack. The implications of this device are meant for daily commuters, college students, bikers, or anyone who enjoys wearing backpacks and music.
As the prototype, I opted for sewn on pockets to hold the speakers, instead of cutting holes into the straps of my backpack directly. The design had to be flush with the bulk of the materials inside of the backpack. Using a Wireless Bluetooth Audio Receiver, grounding both the speakers and connecting them to a 3.5mm coupling, I was able to effectively turn my backpack into a compatible Apple Airplay device.
In the future model, I hope to achieve volume control from the straps of the backpack, as well as have the speakers more embedded into the backpack straps while also being adjustable.
Technology has made remote connections obvious.There are times when I have wished if a group of people could be together in one location to be able to decode a message. Sender of the message defines number of receivers. Each receiver installs the phone application. Video message is fragmented and one part can be played by one person using the marker left in previous person’s phone.
Gesture Radio test from Rachel Ciavarella on Vimeo.
A wearable FM radio that responds to specific gesture cues to adjust volume and seek stations. Haptic feedback in the form of vibration lets the user know when the station has been changed.
To adjust volume the index finger is bent. Contracting the finger reduces volume and extending the finger raises volume.
To seek up stations the user tilts their hand to the right. To seek down stations the hand is tilted downwards.
Audio is output through a standard 1/8th jack which can be plugged directly into headphones or speakers using an AUX cable.
“Concrete” is a performance art piece, which I shared at The Button in Lawrenceville on 9/23/14.
—–
I am doing a study on concrete
Examining parallel lines
Distinguishing identical slabs
My eye so close
That dirt
Makes me blink
Measuring
Re-measuring cracks
Trying to define
The divide
Women are doing a study on concrete
Because with bent necks
That’s where we’re taught to look
Examining cracks
Blinking out dirt
Trying to define
Something someone else made
Why must I study concrete
And brick walls
And my own reflection out bus windows
When I would rather study the world
—–
Play a game of truth or dare with the cocktail waitress and the dress will mix you a drink. Anouk Wipprecht’s work is mostly really good, and I’d also encourage people to check out “Intimacy 2.0” as well, which I consider her best work. anti-utopias.com/art/anouk-wipprecht-daredroid-2-0/
“When a user needs to scream but is in anynumber of situations where it is just not permitted, ScreamBody silences the user’s screams so they may feel free to vocalize without fear of environmental retaliation, and at the same time records the scream for later release where, when, and how the user chooses.”
Technological Dream Series: No. 1, Robots from dunne & raby on Vimeo.
A reimagining of what the robot could be. Very ethereal design fiction.
” A camera temporarily implanted on the back of my head, it spontaneously and objectively captures the images – one per minute – that make up my daily life, and transmits them to a website for public consumption.”
Heavy Breather
“Accessories for Lonely Men is a collection of eight fictional products designed to alleviate loneliness after the departure or loss of a woman. The objects propose that most forms of human intimacy are crude enough in their physicality that they can be replicated with electronic objects, and are meant to question what we think we miss in a relationship; the individual or the generic traces they leave behind.”