16 November (with Elizabeth Hindle)
For the fourth day of the residency I was joined by my long-time collaborator and great friend Elizabeth Hindle: http://elizabethhindle.com.
We work together under the name Ridge & Scrase where we’ve been creating a diverse selection of multimedia drawing, sonic art, collage and micro-publications since 2013: http://scridge13.wordpress.com/
Whilst in the Maker Space we focused on fabricating an interactive sound art installation from magnetic audio tape and demonstrating a Drawdio Musical Pencil to visitors.
Workspace Overview:
In addition to the installation/interactive works, Elizabeth also displayed a lovely selection of pieces including Macramé records and a sewn replica of a smashed mobile phone; both of which were popular and excellent conversation starters on the concept of play/exploration:
Drawdio Musical Pencil:
The Drawdio is a simple electronic sound synthesizer built onto a pencil! The circuit plays a musical tone with a frequency that varies based on the resistance between two points, almost anything conductive such as a pencil drawing can become an instrument.
As you can see from the photos visitors of all ages had lots of fun experimenting with this device; it was wonderful to witness marks being created in response to the conductivity of their drawings and own bodies! Many joined hands extending the circuit further which consequently changed the pitch and tone being emitted from the Drawdio
Tape Head Pen Reader:
An eye-catching temporary installation fashioned from strips of magnetic audio cassette tape mounted onto furniture and walls in the Maker Space. In hindsight the suspended tape was subtly reminiscent of Monika Grzymala’s tape installations
The tape head from a cassette player was removed and adapted into a ‘Pen Reader’. This enabled visitors to literally ‘play’ the strips of tape by carefully running the pen reader over it. A nearby amplifier allows visitors to discover the contents on the tape. Part of the fun was it being nearly impossible to play it at the correct speed!
Michael Ridge 