For sun, shadow, webcam, laptop and wireless headphones. Exhibited at Lake Merritt in Oakland, California.
SHADOW MIX: TRINIDAD (2006)
For video projection, shadow, webcam, laptop and speakers. Exhibited at First Street Gallery in Trinidad, Colorado.
Shadow Mix is a site for sonic play, a realtime audio mixer controlled by the movement of one's shadow through a visually defined space. Its central theme is the magical assumption of a 'shadow identity' and the social and sonic exploration this affords. Children and adults alike are invited to activate the soundscape by moving their shadows throughout a projection field (or sunny surface), alone or together. By moving/dancing through the projected images, small groups of people can improvise evolving soundscapes. The number of participants is limited only to the size of their shadows on the screen.
Shadow Mix was first exhibited at the First Street Gallery in Trinidad, Colorado. This community-based gallery held a large arts education program that attracted children and adults alike to the space, most of whom played with the shadow piece at some point. The soundscape was composed from a local brass band, a passing train whistle, backyard birds, and a raging thunderstorm.
Shadow Mix was subsequently exhibited publicly underneath the Children's Fairyland sign at Lake Merritt in Oakland, California. Instead of creating a projected field of light in which shadows could activate sound, I let the sun do the work and simply pointed the webcam at the patch of grass underneath the sign. Many passing children and adults danced their way to the sounds of an ice cream truck, bumping bass, and Bobby Seale.