reports

[of] Capsule

première at NEMO festival, Paris
16 april 2008

Amsterdam 20/04/08

it's a long story... yes it is...

It was over two years ago that I imagined the possibility of building a device that would give the viewer/listener the opportunity to be "immersed" in the fruition of audiovisual artworks. This idea came along the feeling of disappointment I've often had while seeing beautiful a/v works displayed in galleries, museums, festivals or other venues, where you wouldn't watch a piece for more than a few minutes, if not seconds, given the poor display modalities and the distracting environment all around. It seemed to me natural to think about some sort of personal audiovisual space, which would also allow the diffusion of spatialized and tactile sound. The idea of the "Capsule" became then integral part of the Optofonica project.

Thanks to the enthusiasm and generosity of many fellow artists worldwide, who truly shared the spirit of these ideas,I started collecting wonderful artworks and I kept working on production strategies to achieve the triple-goal of

- building a Capsule
- publishing a DVD
- organizing an exhibition

This role of "producer" is more a challenge to me than a real aspiration and I finally discovered how hard it is to engage in this job and work for the "community" rather than for merely personal achievements as an artist or "creative researcher" as I prefer to label myself! On the other hand there seems to be no alternative when it comes the materialization of certain ideas, especially when so unconventional and experimental.

I therefore feel very lucky to have come across some extraordinary beings and entities who decided to help and support the Optofonica project by diverse means.

Today the first of the three goals has been attained: a Capsule is born and I'm a happy father! :-)

This project is a co-production by the Optofonica foundation, ARCADI and myself.

Beside the fundamental financial support of the above mentioned co-producers I must here mention the immense contribution of Janis Pönisch who's truly the co-designer and co-maker with me of the Optofonica Capsule. Janis is a fantastic artist and a wonderful person and without his genius and skills there couldn't have existed an Optofonica Capsule today!

There's a lot to say about what happened in terms of co-production, collaboration and cooperation during the genesis and unfolding of the Capsule's project...
but let's make this long story short, and see how it uncoiled:

Janis has designed literally hundreds of sketches, drawings and computer models while we've been thinking together of the most effective way to give shape to such an invention. So many parameters must be taken into consideration in order to make everything affordable and functional. The Capsule turns out to be a true technological craftwork where the intuition of the artisan comprises a great deal.



From the very beginning we looked into the most efficient way to reproduce and diffuse sound in the Capsule. We were already convinced of using tactile sound for the low frequencies, as a sub-woofer is anyway not an option in such a small space. Moreover we wanted to re-create an immersive and unique aural experience. The solution came from ESARC Hi-Tech, an advanced Italian company distributing and producing special sound transducers which, unlike traditional speakers, don't use any magnets and membranes and can be directly attached to flat resonating surfaces to make them vibrate and produce hi-fi sound. ESARC was enthusiast to experiment with us on the Capsule and provided five SAI-15 transducers to be attached to the Capsule's shell and one S-DRIVE for the tactile sound to be placed under the base panel of the Capsule where you stand with your feet. We've been testing loads of different materials for both the shell and the base panels and it's been an important part of our research to find the best material to adopt.

Another feature we really wanted to implement in the Capsule regarded the possibility to move the shell up and down so to adapt to each viewer's height. We used two motorized legs with pressure-oil pump to be controlled both manually with a front panel and remotely via Arduino and custom software for the iPod Touch that is our wireless interface to all the Capsule's software. The motorized legs were generously sponsored by ERGOSWISS and we hacked the panel to connect it to the Arduino microcontroller board. In the next version of the Capsule we would definitely like to add a sensor for automatically adjust to different heights... our experience with SHARP infrared sensors was not completely satisfactory therefore we have now an interface on the iPod Touch inside the pod that allows the user to change it manually... interactive YEAH!!!

This is the "brain" of the Capsule, from left to right the legs' motor controller, the 6 channels ampli and transformer, the Arduino board, the fw sound card and the macMini. The PHILIPS' sponsored screen was made naked of its original chassis... much slimmer and sexier.

Here we go! Janis' genius at work. He created molds by covering a rubber balloon with fiber-glass and epoxy... not an easy task I guarantee! In this way we obtained natural and organic double curvatures for laminating the panels.

It's been a true pleasure to assist Janis in the creation of the first panel... a sandwich of Carbon Fiber and Avirex Honeycomb Acoustic Foam was laminated with epoxy inside the mold and then pressed into shape with a vacuum pump. Our skilled fellow Martijn helped Janis for the other four panels, thank you! The resulting panels are extremely light and resistant and have an optimal response to the sound transducers.

Time to think about a proper "skeleton" for supporting the Capsule's shell. The pentagon suits perfectly the geometry of the surround panorama and coherently we chose to use Carbon Fiber strips mounted on a specially crafted aluminum flower. This has been the most difficult and time-consuming part of the whole project. To construct the Capsule for a reasonably easy disassembly for transport has been a real complicated issue from the very beginning and it vastly conditioned the whole production's flow. Not everything can be calculated on a computer when you have parts that are manually constructed and a minimal change of angle can determine a major change in the structure. Janis has faced this challenge with amazing skillfulness and, despite sleepless nights and simultaneous demanding tasks, he managed to come up with astonishingly smart solutions. BRAVO!

I did my job too. All the "intelligence" was programmed Robert Fischer and myself... A video-player, the motor control and the iPod interface all had to be synchronized on wireless. We used OSC as protocol over udp on a custom wi-fi network. The a/v content had to be re-adapted as well... sleepless nights yes, and a lot of coffee!

Other friends helped on different tasks. Sylvan, Giom and BJ (the Angel) generously contributed in the final phase of the construction. Our schedule was extremely tight and we had to work really hard and sleep little to make it for the deadline of the NEMO festival.

...and we needed a BIG box for transport... that's me waking up from a little nap in the flightcase, super-comfy :-) We're ready to fly to Paris !!!

Le Cube, our destination for the première... our friend Michel has all the pics of the build-up, we'll publish them soon. Here's the baby anyway, inside and outside.

more details...

Finally the "opening". Gilles, Karen and Julien from Arcadi "multimedia" have done a great job with the organization of this event and with the entire festival. Likewise did Carine, Federica and all the folks at Le Cube. I thank them very much for the great support, hospitality and encouragement.

[of] Capsule @ Le Cube

I'm really proud of this creation and I truly hope that it's just the first prototype of a series that can travel around and allow more people to experience it and for artists to develop specific content for it. This Capsule will fly to Montreal in May for the Elektra festival and then will be part of the Optofonica exhibition in Amsterdam in July. Stay tuned and don't miss it when it gets around your neighborhood!

synesthetically yours
:tez: