A commissioned interactive sound sculpture created for the Observe Exhibition at Art Center College of Design. When we look at the stars, we do not see them as they are at this moment, but as they were in the past. Just like the sky is a patchwork of history, this sculpture is a mosaic of people’s voices who visited in the past.

About

As you enter the room a large clock can be seen and at the same time various voices are heard. As you explore the space, you immediately realize that each of the circles representing the hours of the clock are different sizes and different distances away. At some point the you notice a glowing light that says “talk to me” on it. When you bend over to talk to it, a microphone senses the movement and records your voice. The recording is then heard out of one of the speakers. After a few more seconds, it is heard from a different speaker. It may still be heard a few minutes, hours, days or even months later. The room is filled with sounds from different time periods – the older they are, the more stretched the voices sound, much like light gets distorted the older it is.

When we look at the stars, we do not see them as they are at this moment, but as they were in the past. Stars are vastly different distances away, and therefore different times away. The light from the closest stars can take four years to get here, while other stars can take millions and even billions of years to reach us. So we really see a sky that is a patchwork of history.

Exhibitions

• Observe – Art Center College of Design, Pasadena CA

In collaboration with Dan Goods