Wisker Organ

Alison Kotin

Installation Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

• Year: 2012
• Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A.

Abstract:

Program notes: Whisker Organ is an interactive sound instrument linking the voices of a 30-person chorus with 48 black cat whiskers. Through touch, visitors to the piece activate the sound of massed voices singing, creating spontaneous, infinitely-variable musical compositions. Whisker Organ is built on a system of piezoelectric sensors connected to a series of microprocessors, which in turn control sound output to an external speaker system. The sonic experience is oversized, unexpected, and richly human. The tactile experience is mysterious, perhaps evoking a frisson of discomfort, but also inescapably compelling. Whisker Organ both requires and enables the leap of imagination necessary to make sense of the joining of two organic but otherwise unconnected references. Whisker Organ was created in collaboration with the Oriana Consort who performed the vocal notes for the instrument. The music that forms the basis of Whisker Organ's sound output was composed in 2011 by Walter Chapin. Artist(s) Biography: Alison Kotin: Alison's work explores the interplay of performance and digital media through motion- and touch-activated digital artworks that invite play, creation, and audience participation.Alison is an adjunct professor of Graphic Design at MassArt and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She is also a media arts instructor and Programs + Outreach Coordinator at the Urbano Project, a non-profit studio and gallery space dedicated to fostering artistic partnerships between urban teens and adult artists. She exhibits works in venues around the Boston Area, most recently the 2011 Boston CyberArts Festival and a 2012 solo show: Listen Close at Boston's Bromfield Gallery. Her writing has appeared in the Teaching Artists' Journal and the Youth Media Reporter, as well as The Experience of Dynamic Media. Alison holds an MFA from the Dynamic Media Institute at MassArt, and a BA from Brown University ('00) in English Literature.

Citation:

BibTeX Entry:

  @incollection{nime2012-installations-Kotin2012,
 abstract = {Program notes:

Whisker Organ is an interactive sound instrument linking the voices of a 30-person chorus with 48 black cat whiskers. Through touch, visitors to the piece activate the sound of massed voices singing, creating spontaneous, infinitely-variable musical compositions. Whisker Organ is built on a system of  piezoelectric sensors connected to a series of microprocessors, which in turn control sound output to an external speaker system. The sonic experience is oversized, unexpected, and richly human. The tactile experience is mysterious, perhaps evoking a frisson of discomfort, but also inescapably compelling. Whisker Organ both requires and enables the leap of imagination necessary to make sense of the joining of two organic but otherwise unconnected references. Whisker Organ was created in collaboration with the Oriana Consort who performed the vocal notes for the instrument. The music that forms the basis of Whisker Organ's sound output was composed in 2011 by Walter Chapin.

Artist(s) Biography:
Alison Kotin: Alison's work explores the interplay of performance and digital media through motion- and touch-activated digital artworks that invite play, creation, and audience participation.Alison is an adjunct professor of Graphic Design at MassArt and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She is also a media arts instructor and Programs + Outreach Coordinator at the Urbano Project, a non-profit studio and gallery space dedicated to fostering artistic partnerships between urban teens and adult artists. She exhibits works in venues around the Boston Area, most recently the 2011 Boston CyberArts Festival and a 2012 solo show: Listen Close at Boston's Bromfield Gallery. Her writing has appeared in the Teaching Artists' Journal and the Youth Media Reporter, as well as The Experience of Dynamic Media.
Alison holds an MFA from the Dynamic Media Institute at MassArt, and a BA from Brown University ('00) in English Literature.},
 address = {Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A.},
 author = {Alison Kotin},
 booktitle = {Installation Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 day = {21-23},
 editor = {Georg Essl and Brent Gillespie and Michael Gurevich and Sile O'Modhrain},
 month = {May},
 publisher = {Electrical Engineering \& Computer Science and Performing Arts Technology, University of Michigan},
 title = {Wisker Organ},
 year = {2012}
}