Putting the 'midget' through its paces/Sumi (2)

The midget:

In a previous post I mentioned how I was developing some devices for installation purposes, in this case a micro stereo amplifier. I have since dubbed my little creation the 'midget' due to its small size and amazing carnival-size feats of power. A bit un-PC, but its not the first time a technological device has been given a rather suspect name - Big Muff anyone?

I decided to test the midget out on an installation idea in the works, you may notice that the ink rocks featured in an earlier post. In the images below I'm using the ink rocks to apply pressure to contact mics which are sitting on cardboard resonators (with card supports attached to the underside to create a small pocket of air.)


The complete set-up with the midget, ink rocks, piezos (hidden) and an audio source from my laptop (out of view.)


View of piezo sitting on the cardboard resonator.


View of underside of the cardboard resonator with supports.

Sumi:

Which leads onto the development of a second Sumi installation. Still in its conceptual infancy but interesting in terms of visual material and incorporation of audio, this Sumi is smaller in scale and uses the ink rocks which I've been using for a while. The additional visual material of exagerrated rivers and pools of ink were created simply with black textas, then photocopied and photocopied again to an overhead transparency (see bottom image.) It's still being prototyped at present, and there's a lack of audio/video documentation for an obvious reason; it's not very good yet. However, I'm very pleased with the aesthetic results thus far, and this is shaping up to be an ideal submission for an exhibition in the future.


Complete set-up for Sumi (2), [prototype].