Atau Tanaka

Global String

Atau Tanaka's latest installation project, funded by the foundation, in partnership with Kasper Toeplitz, is a multi-site network-music installation, connected via the Internet. It is a musical instrument wherein the network is the resonating body of the instrument, through the use of a real-time sound-synthesis server.

The concept is to create a musical string (like the string of a guitar or violin) that spans the world. Its resonance circles the globe, allowing musical communication and collaboration among the people at each connected site. The installation consists of a real physical string connected to a virtual string on the network. The real string (12 millimetres in diameter, 15 metres in length) stretches from the floor diagonally up to the ceiling of the space. On the floor is one end-the earth. Up above is the connection to the network, to one of the other ends somewhere else in the world. Vibration sensors translate the analog pulses to digital data. Users strike the string, making it vibrate. (1) This extension of Tanaka's work with Sensorband presents a unique way to further develop notions of connectivity and interactivity in contemporary media art.

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(1) For a full project description see : http://www.sensorband.com/atau/globalstring/