What's this all about, then

The idea for 'You are here' was born out of the Tea + Jam project I did with Pete Vilk. There we built an interactive musical system using various switches and sensors built into a set of tables. I wanted to take that idea to another level by creating a three dimensional room that responded to the movements of a user.

My initial concept involved using four ultrasonic sensors and four to six speakers, in order to evenly cover a space both in terms of location and sound. As a sound design I wanted to tell a story, but a story with many different levels that could be accessed by moving around the space.

Many of these concepts ended up changing. The ultrasonic sensors proved to be difficult to manage in groups, and I ended up only using two, together with three infrared switches. The 'story' concept was more or less abandoned, partially because the sensor system I was able to set up was not as accurate as I would have wished, but also because I became more and more interested in using the system as a musical interface.

Eventually I came to the idea of creating musical compositions that could be explored in three dimensions. I wanted to show how sound and music can be part of a place, and can be viewed as a space to be travel through. In addition, I wanted to give a listener some degree of control over what they are listening to, thus blurring the divide between creator, listener, and technology.