Soundtable
Background
I studied ViCCA as a minor subject in 2018, which included the course Immersion: Experiments in Spatiality and Multisensority. During this course, we created an art exhibition in the basement of the art building.
The Work
The foundation of the piece consisted of piezo microphones, a wardrobe back panel, and audio playback equipment. It also included paper, pencils, and a table. The goal was to generate as much sound as possible when someone drew on the paper.
On the table, there was first a mic, then the panel placed with its rough side facing up, and paper on top. This allowed the pencil to produce sound through the mic.
The space, as I understood it, was the building’s old heating room, with metal walls. The room was totally dark except there was lamp that illuminated the white paper on the able
Reactions
I was in the room observing people’s reactions. A young boy walked in. He didn’t speak Finnish or English, so I couldn’t communicate with him. He looked at the table and, of course, noticed that people had drawn strange patterns on the paper. After pondering for a moment, he picked up a pencil and drew on the paper. The sound was so loud that the metal walls of the room shook, and he was slightly startled. Then he drew more. When drawing became boring, he first looked at the pencil, then tried to look under the paper, and next he looked at the lamp above the table, toward which he said “hello.” Nothing was heard.
Everybody liked the work because it made so big noise.
