Collider

Media: Custom circuits, dc motors, cables, colliding objects, cords, power supply
Dimension: Variable according to display location. 4 4 4 meters approximated.

Statement
Collide means hit with force when moving. On this peace, I want to represent the marvelous interactions that I experienced while I was living in Tokyo with my family. The daily live events with all the cultural surprises, differences and beauty observed as a Mexican in Japan are sonically represented in this work. Each single hit represent a simple event but all together orchestrate the live in Japan starting from the initial surprise, to the period of stability, and finishing with the abrupt ending due the earthquake. This peace is also a humble gesture of support, solidarity, and admiration to all the Japan people from whom we have so much to learn.

Technical Description
The idea of the piece is to generate subtle sounds by hitting small pieces of wood that are hanging from the celling. To achieve this, there are thirty-two woods hanging from the celling. Each wood is constantly hit with a plastic nail attached to a small motor in the floor. Groups of four motors are controlled by one circuit that contains a microcontroller and a power transistor. All the circuits are chained with a cable to receive power and data. The microcontrollers have a routine that modulate the speed of the motors. Sometimes they are so soft that they do not have the power to move the nail and they just produce a pleasant high pitch. At some point during the cycle the power is enough to make the nail rotate and the percussion of the wood start. The cycle repeats over and over. The cycle is about five minutes long.

Photos: Shigeo Muto