Yuri Suzuki’s latest project allows people to appreciate the unique sounds they make before they vanish into the air.
For an interactive installation titled "Garden of Russolo", Suzuki created a series of sound machines to capture and distort visitors' voices. What Suzuki calls "White Noise Machines" are placed inside wooden boxes with a horn attached to one side. Visitors are encouraged to scream or talk loudly into the boxes in order to capture and transform their voices.
Each box is fitted with a Raspberry Pi computer, which is programmed to create various distortions. Each of the five boxes create a different effect: Upside down translates a voice backwards. With Age an adult’s voice is translated into a child’s voice. Wind up records the voice and plays it back in slow, or in speeded up motions. Music captures the voice and transforms it into a musical piece. White Noise briefly creates the same amount of white noise as the voice creates and then deletes the sound completely.
Garden of Russolo was presented at the Victoria and Albert Museum earlier this year.