Prefalll 135 is an interactive audio-visual installation. It uses the energy of falling water to make watermils rotate and produce sound and graphics.
By opening and closing the taps, the user is controlling the water circuit and defining the parameters of the audiovisual system.
By opening and closing the taps, the user is controlling the water circuit and defining the path that the water will follow and on which mills it will fall. The rotation of each mill is read by sensors that send that data to the audiovisual system. This way by deciding path of the flux of the water, the user is controlling parameters of the audiovisual generation.
It is an audiovisual synthesizer where the parameters are influenced by kinetic energy of the falling water. Like a waterfall or a fountain Prefalll135 is autonomous, it is constantly working, the water flow never stops, but the user intervention will change and determine the outcome of the sound and images output.
The audience is invited to explore and express themselves creatively throw the interaction with a Audiovisual interactive system inspired in natural elements.
Prefalll135 consists on a friendly and intuitive interface, that enables users to experiment with different methods of sound composition.
Through interaction with watermills, users familiarize with the basic notions of additive, subtractive and granular synthesis. Each watermill affect concrete parameters of sound, providing user the opportunity to understand in which way different elements influence the final composition.
Moreover, Prefalll135 is a playful installation that brings children closer to the idea of energy sustainability. Children through experimentation with the flow of water, understand how dynamic energy of accumulated water can be transformed in mechanical energy, that produces movement and power. Prefalll135 graphics simulate how this power can be used by people in a creative and useful way, while reminding how this process influences the environment.
Prefalll135 has been exhibited in several places during the year of 2012:
– “Espaço do Tempo”, and “Pavilhão do Conhecimento-Ciência Viva”,Lisbon, with the support of “Ciencia Viva”;
-”Fabra i Coats” and “Sonar Festival” in Barcelona, Spain with the support of “Phonos Fundation, U.Pompeu Fabra”.
Visuals :: Openframeworks+MSAFluids
Sound :: Pure Data
Physical interaction :: photoreflector IR encoder+arduino
by:Rodrigo Carvalho, Katerina Antonoupoulou, Javier Chavarri
Acknowledgments: LCD Labs, Espaço do Tempo, Ricardo Webbens, Phonos Fundation, Photos by Paulo Pinto
The original idea came in 2008 when we were students of a Digital Arts Master degree (U.Pompeu Fabra Barcelona), and we had to create a physical interactive AudioVisual Sequencer.The origin of the concept was to combine nature and technology and by this way explore the expressive results of these two interactions.
Video of the first prototype :
