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Calma
An Integrated Art-Object About Additive Synesthesia.
Calma Image 1 Calma Image 2 Calma Image 3 Calma Image 4
Processing application: Visuals for fall season.
Max and Processing applications hooked up to Arduino (in front).
Max application/patch.
Arduino lighting: simple LEDs.

Calma is an attempt at making a passive synaesthetic art-object/device. It uses flowing visuals, gradually fading colors and audio to enhance your environment. It is not made to be an object of active focus. However, it offers some basic interactions where the dragging on-screen affects the tonal mode of the device. Later Calma should be able to use touch and other gentle inputs in its more final version(s).

My way into the notion of passive audio-visuals is a descendant of the time where we all used screensavers on our computers. And do you even remember all those DVDs with aquariums and fireplaces? These things took (often) soothing, almost abstract movement, color and flow into our everyday spaces. The problem was that they were clunky to rig or (in the case of screensavers) only active when the computer itself was passive. With the great number of screens and listening devices around us today, an interactive iteration running parallell to normal human tasks may not be a dumb idea.

The project is still experimental on all levels. You may download video, documents and the source files to look at it yourself if you are keen on trying it out.