vocabulary of value
November 17th, 2008 admin
Wine has an associated descriptive vocabulary that is unparalleled against most other comestible subject matter. Structured, oak, plummy, nougat, toast, mulberries, acid and yeast are but a few examples of the diverse range of words that are actively used to describe the complex flavors of wine. When presented with a large set of wine tasting notes that throughly described over 5000 wines, I was immediately drawn to the associated prices when reading through the tasting notes of a particular selection. Due to the financial realities that I have come to terms with, consuming a bottle of wine beyond the $20 dollar threshold is a rare occasion. Given this circumstance, I was personally drawn the descriptions of the wines that ranged in the hundreds-of-dollars out of sheer novelty and curiosity. This curiosity lead me to then question weather there was a hierarchy of vocabularies within the wine descriptions themselves. While reviewing the wine selections within my budget, was I not being exposed to the full gamut of descriptive words? Is there a premium on certain adjectives when describing such a well understood and valued commodity?
This visualization allows a user to first select a target price of wine. When a price has been selected, the entire descriptive dictionary used in the tasting notes of all 5000 wines is queried to return only those words that have described a wine at the user specified target price (+/- 5%). One can then view the distribution of these now relevant words across the entire price range of wines. For example, if a user defines a target price of $133, only the words used to describe wines at that price will be pulled from the complete dictionary. With a quick glance of the distributions one can infer an understanding of how this subset of words is used across the complete price range of wines. Notable results from this specific query are the words ‘Feminine’ which only appears at the $127 price point. Conversely the word ‘with’ is present across the entire price range.
Additional features have been built into the visualization tool to enhance the exploration of this data-set. Beyond the prominent mouse controlled red scroll bar along the top right of the window that allows for a target price selection, one can scroll vertically through the data-points to reveal the dollar value of the point that one is mousing over. Further more, a single click of the mouse anywhere within the visualization window will pull an additional 55 entries from the relevant subset of words (when applicable). Due to the broad spectrum of wine prices, gaps do exist where a target price will return no words. In this case, one simply has to continue navigating across the scroll bar until a target price is found that returns a subset of descriptive words.
The images below illustrate a few sample cases of the visualization.
An executable java application in *.jar format can be downloaded here.
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sound [space] sound
November 16th, 2008 admin
This project will be manifested in the form of an interactive four channel sound installation. As signals travel through any given medium interference patterns emerge yielding both additive and subtractive summations of the original signals. This project leverages one extreme case of these interference patterns, specifically the occasion where two waves of identical amplitude and opposite phase collide, resulting in a the negation of both signals. In the medium of sound, this negation results in silence.
Audible sine tones below a frequency of 400 Hz will be projected into the defined space of this installation. The foot print of the installation will span 100 square feet marked by a loud-speaker located at each corner of the space. The loud-speakers will be oriented at a 45 degree angle, focusing their output towards the exact center of the space.
This project is designed to accommodate a single user, although spectators will be able to observe the installation from outside of the defined boundary. As the user enters the space, they will be exposed to the sine tones being projected by the speakers. Invisible to the user, a tracking system will be monitoring the exact location of the participant within the defined volume. At an arbitrary moment, the synthesizer controlling the speaker output will modify the frequency-set and the individual polarities of the signals in-order to deliberately create an instance of phase cancellation at the exact location where the user is standing. This location will be further marked by a projection on the floor surface of the volume. The overall effect from the users perspective will be experienced in the form of a sudden drop in volume (in an ideal case silence) along with a visible boundary marking the exact location of a particular instance of phase cancellation. The user can either remain within the marked space or further explore the space with a new understanding of the sonic structure that is subtly filling the space in which they are.
The following story-board describes how one would interact with this installation.
The descriptions below describe a series of on-going experiments designed to aid in the execution of this installation.
experiment 2 [14.11.2008]
working within a large studio space in greenpoint (brooklyn new york) this experiment focused on the brute force mapping of the interference patterns. A sine tone at a frequency of 300 Hz was projected uniformly from all 4 channels. This lower frequency value was selected due to the manageable wavelength of this signal (1.172 meters). The 100 square foot space was divided into a grid that produced 21 valid measurement points. This test was unfortunately prematurely terminated as two of the channels were discovered to be malfunctioning and were projecting their signals at a level almost 20 decibels below their originally calibrated value. Data was gathered for a 300 Hz signal without a shift of phase, and a 300 Hz signal expressing a phase shift of 30 degrees. The images set below contains the results of the tests performed as well as some photographs describing the space we are currently using to develop this project.
experiment 1 [08.11.2008]
this experiment was conducted to better understand the interference patterns created when introducing four unique channels of sound within a closed space. These tests were heavily influenced by the work of La Monte Young.
No quantitative findings were logged, however significant qualitative exploration of the sonic structures created by the various interference patterns were conducted (the video evidence can be seen below). It is this experiment that lead to the shift in conceptual direction from the cancellation of noise within urban spaces to the pure exploration of the interference patterns generated when sound is projected within a given space. The video documentation illustrates the complexity of the sonic structure formed by the sine tones projected into the space. As the camera and microphone rotate in the middle of the space, one can identify a seemingly dynamic audio signal that is actually associated with the interference pattern formed within that particular space. It is recommended that one view these videos while wearing head-phones to better experience the the audio component of the documentation. The title screen of each video describes the sine tones used in each trial (all sets are comprised of prime numbers).
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