Archive

Images from rehearsal + performance of "Base.Mat.1 - Coitus_More_Ferarum" at the CIM Art Residency, Morelia, Mexico, July 2010

Documentation from Illuminated Corridor May 2010, Ian Winters and Evelyn Ficarra's Submarine / Short Films About Water.

Emmanuel Witzthum Townsend Resident Fellow 2012

This is an acoustic speaker using copper foil "circuitry" adhered to a paper surface (12" x 16"). The piece, titled Embryo, represents a few important aspects of my current paper speaker research.

This paper speaker technology can also be applied to more practical uses. Here we see Kari sporting a pair of paper speaker earrings which I designed. Again, there is copper foil adhered to paper. Magnets are attached nonpermanently through attraction on both sides. The earrings come with detachable cable which can be plugged in as desired.

This figure shows the three basic topologies of circuit design for paper speakers which I have explored. All three designs can generate a magnetic field capable of driving audio.

One way to quickly and easily make an flat audio speaker is to re-appropriate already printed electronics. This is a speaker which uses the innards of a computer keyboard. A small grid-like layer of silver ink has been applied to a thin plastic surface, which is used to read keystrokes.

The same parallel/serial structure used to produce the smaller hexagram speaker at the top of this page can also be multiplied to make larger speakers. The more hexagram parallel structures (with magnets attached), the greater the potential volume output. This sheet (12" x 17" approx) is enough to drive a very robust signal.

Here's two different conductive inks. The black bare conductive ink has better printing properties - it can pass easily through a 130 mesh screen and won't dry up. However, it's resistivity is higher than the copper paint on the left. The copper paint, from less EMF, is problematic for basic screen printing.

This is a 4-channel paper speaker. Note that the geometry of the electromagnetic field production, and the 4-channel system has been intentionally obscured by artistic concerns. With these 2-d speaker arrays, artistic and design possibilities open up for sound art, sound installation, patterning and graphic design, which are not part of standard sound reproduction aesthetics.

It is also possible to explore photographic material as a basis for flat audio circuitry design.

Daniel Cullen created a sound booth around a grand piano in Hertz Hall using the concert sound panels. This allowed for close miking of the instrument with solid noise isolation.