ECHO )))
Environmentally Connected Helium Objects
 
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description
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technical information _
simulation _
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ECHO
operates in two states, determined by the interaction that human agents and the environment carry out through ECHO.


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The first state assumes human intervention. An agent approaches a microphone and emits a sound into it. The system uses this sound as a signal, gleaning from it certain properties that trigger a reaction from an array of helium blimps. The blimps shine one after the other, emulating the translation of the propagating sound wave, a wave which runs along the line of blimps at a speed that is custom scaled to the distance between the first and last blimp. It then reflects back to the original source. The returning wave is dampened; the lights from the blimps are less bright... as an echo.

The original sound is stored and ultimately played back through a speaker located next to the microphone. The output of the sound is delayed and attenuated, scaled down to correspond to the time and attenuation of the light wave. The microphone picks up the sound again, triggering a feedback loop: the sound is turned into a somewhat muted new displacement along the blimps.

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The second state assumes only interaction with the environment. Because the input source is extracted from the blimps themselves. The blimps are fitted with GPS processors, which are continually picking up their location and speed of motion. This motion is caused by the wind, a characteristic particular to the chosen setting. The motion data of the blimp that is moving the fastest is used to trigger a new simulated wave, which propagates and is dampened along the other blimps at a velocity proportional to the speed of the source, in this case a moving blimp.

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Mariano Mora -Composer- + Matt Stabile -EE- + Andres Burbano -Artist-.