Ryth Kesselring
Artiste multidisciplinaire
Mediated Communication
(Device1)
Collaboration with Lea Schwarz
Felt, silver thread, electronic components, ear pods
160cm X 100cm X 40cm
2016



Mediated communication is an immersive sound experience where two participants share different sounds in order to make sense of a bigger meaning. Shaped to be worn over the heads, this device is physically enveloping the users and partially blurring their sight, the focus then becomes the sounds they share. Each participant can listen to the sound they send and also the one transmitted by their partner. Engaging a different type of conversation mediated by the preset vocabulary of six sounds, the participants are no longer communicating verbally. The sounds in this case are recordings of the making of the object itself. Using two MP3 Lilypad Arduino boards and two felt pads with three touch sensors each, the wearer can play the sounds by touching the shapes in the felt pad.
Drawing from the idea of technology mediating our understanding of information, this object is regulating the communication between the users and limiting in a way their conversation. Mediated Communication is approaching a different way of interaction between humans and technology, this project is an experience of the object itself where the process of the making is revealed through the sounds.
(Version française suivra sous peu... )