soundgrid - 1997

sound triggering laser matrix

Soundgrid is a simple interactive sound triggering installation. The system consists of a 5m sided grid, each side housing two laser emitters and two photoresistors. This creates a matrix of 8 laser beams each of which is mapped to a sound, when the beam is broken the sound is triggered providing a simple and immediate environment for exploring sound and space.

Later versions of the piece ran more sophisticated software which tracked people's behaviour in the space, a very basic version of a neural network. The system would attempt to work out the point at which people had begun to understand the space and where each sound was. It would then begin to adjust the mapping of sounds and triggers, always allowing the participants near but moving away if they got too close to unlocking the pattern.

exhibition history

November 1998, Architecture week, Hatton gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
June 1998, digitalsummer98, Green Room, Manchester, UK

also used in performance 'strange attractor' by the Spark Collective