During the Residency at the InterArtsCenter in Malmo, Sweden I worked on the development of a new sensor mediated exhibition that looks at Islamophobia through audience interaction.  In this piece I used field recordings I have made of the Islamic call to prayer as sonic material for the work. I developed an interactive space where visitors to the exhibition become participants in the ever-changing soundscape of the space.  The exhibition utilized ultra sonic sensors as a means of capturing audience movement in the exhibition space, and specifically in relation to photographs of mosques.

The audience member’s movement in the space interrupts the ultra sonic signals, sending data readings from the sensors, into an Arduino sketch I have built.  The arduino sketch then sends that data into a MAX software patch where the numerical data values are correlated to changing parameters of audio. Each sensor sends a distinct set of data, and each sensor is paired with a specific field recording whose playback is mediated by this data. Parameters including amplitude, tone, and pitch become controlled by the data from the sensors, augmenting the playback of the field recordings that are heard in the space.

The idea is to highlight human mediation of thought through human mediation of sound, and to experiment with the idea of creating self-awareness in people in the exhibition space. Through this work I want people to question how their presence and participation augments the call to prayer and the sounds they hear. This self-conscious mediation is the goal of the work.