Tine Bech: Echidna

Artist(s):

• Tine Bech

Title:

Echidna

Exhibition:

• SIGGRAPH 2010: TouchPoint: Haptic Exchange Between Digits

Creation Year:

2009/2002

Category:

• Electronic/Robotic Object
• Sound Art

Artist Statement:

Echidna is an interactive sound sculpture, made partly in collaboration with PhD researcher Tom Frame from the Surrey Space Centre. Echidna is like a fussy tumbled creature that has its own (electronic) voice. When it is touched, and the electromagnetic field around it is disturbed, sound emerges. The sculpture is made of tangled wire and sits on a plinth with electronics inside. It hums happily until touched, at which point it will squeak and react to one’s presence. The work combines a circuit which directly measures electrostatic changes in the environment and a custom-designed phase-locked loop system, used to drive an audio speaker.