2011
installation and workshops with custom electronics, fruits and vegetables
Fresh Music For Rotten Vegetables
Workshops and a participatory installation with DIY audio devices.
The devices are powered and controlled by fruits and vegetables.
The title “Fresh Music For Rotten Vegetables” refers to Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables the debut album by the American punk band Dead Kennedys. Lead vocalist Jello Biafra’s strong political statements launched the Dead Kennedys into the political arena.
Fresh Music For Rotten Vegtables comprises workshops and a sound installation. Within the workshop small audio devices, like sequencers will be build from the most affordable electronic materials.
All of the chips involved operate with high and low signals. By combining the functions of these chips in various ways, it is possible to create various types of audio devices. They operate between 1V and 5V and use up very little power. So we will be able to use fruits/vegetables as a power supply. A fresh potato has a lot of juice that may serve our purpose as electrolyte. To use the potential chemical energy in potatoes to create electricity, two types of metal are needed. These metals are zinc and copper. These two metals are inserted into a potato to create a chemical reaction to generate an electrical current or flow of electricity. By connecting three potato batteries there will be enough electricity to power one of the audio devices.
Part of the workshops will be the collection of over ripe fruits and vegetables for free from supermarkets or restaurants. “Food waste remains primarily disposed to landfill (54 per cent of total municipal waste was disposed of in this way in 2007/8), although year-on-year the amount being sent to landfill is decreasing.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_waste_in_the_United_Kingdom
For the sound installation all devices will be tuned and setup to make them create a semi-aleatoric musical piece. In aleatory music aspects such as the ordering of a piece’s sections, its rhythms, and even its pitches are decided at the moment of performance. Also called “chance music,” aleatory music has been produced in abundance since 1945 by several composers, the most notable being John Cage, Pierre Boulez, and Iannis Xenakis.
Within this project the chance aspect will be achieved by the change of the electrochemical state of the fruits/vegetables which will affect the tone, timbre and loudness.
All devices made while the workshop will be used for the sound installation.
The installation will grow from workshop to workshop. At the end of the exhibition the participants are allowed to take their device home for free.
On the left you see the Fresh Music for Rotten Vegetables musical instrument I have build for Kraftwerk Schöppingen Project.
There is also a podcast about the project by Dominik Landwehr at Digital Brainstorming
Resaerch
1. http://www.ghi-dc.org/publications/ghipubs/annual/al05.pdf
2. http://www.scidev.net/en/news/potato-battery-could-help-meet-rural-energy-needs.html
