[December 3rd 2004]


Mark Hauenstein and Tom Jenkins (UK) give new meaning to the concept of sound mixing with Audioshaker. More info at: www.nurons.net & www.interaction.rca.ac.uk/alumni/03-05/tom.

Next 2004 - a selection of images

Next 2004 was a conference and an exhibition (organized by Innovation Lab) giving a wide range of perspectives on presumed future technologies. The exhibition lasted for two days at Base Camp in Copenhagen, Denmark. Among fancy gadgets, flashy game interfaces and trend mongers, Artificial found some projects with a more off beat perspective on technology. Some of these pieces could just as well have been presented in art contexts and some already have.

Here is a very brief documentation of some of the projects.

Speak into the mixer, put the lid on, shake, and pour the words out in a different order. Audioshaker explores the physical nature of sound through a highly original mixing interface.

Toke Oliver Barters (DK/UK) RGB Player scans objects' forms and colors and plays them as sound. This makes it possible to construct sound sequences out of toys and other objects. More info at www.radarstation.org.

Héctor Serrano and Victor Vina's netObjects is a collection of everyday objects presenting real time information from the internet. These objects are designed for eight fictional characters who are stereotypes of media consumers. netCuckoo delivers headlines every fifteen minutes with a selector for right or left wing news. More info: www.netobjects.org.uk.

Another one of Héctor Serrano and Victor Vina's netObjects: netFuture will allegedly read your hands and tell you what lies in your future.

The Yumemi Koubou ('Dream Viewing Workshop') from Japanese toy company Takara is designed to help people shape their dreams. It lulls you to sleep with soft background music, mood lights, and a range of fragrances. You record a short audio excerpt, which is repeated throughout the night.

Takara claims to be able to translate the barks of dogs. Barks were collected, interpreted by animal behaviorists and stored in a database. When your dog barks, the handheld device matches it to the database and gives a suggestion.


More info:
http://www.next2004.dk
http://www.innovationlab.net