Hello, my name
is Travis Jones

This is The Musical Chairs of History, a sound installation for Digital Technology and Culture 338 with Dr. John Barber at Divine Consign.

Pat Jones, Reflecting Back on 91 years of Life This button below links to a website I made for the midterm in Sound Installations.
It's about my 91 year old grandmother. She has lived a long life. She narrates stories while I have placed sound effects and music to
help guide the listener reflecting on her life.

Installation Overview

The idea for this sound installation is to use sound and an object to magically transport the spectator to three different decades in American History. This is important for noticing how technology's changed in the span of a century.

Background

The sound clips recorded for each chair are full of sounds from each chair's decade crafted. Some of the sounds featured are from inventions, music, sound effects, and presidential speeches from the decades in question. Hear if you can guess what decade each chair is from. This installation is to help find out your knowledge of American History. I'd tell you when in time the sound clips are from, but that would ruin all the fun. I want you to ask me and guess. I will tell you if you are right or wrong. Prizes may be rewarded to any person who guesses all three correctly.

Description

The sound installation itself is a series of three chairs from three unique moments in American History. I have soldered sound chips hidden around each chair in question. When you sit down, the sounds provided will transport you to the decade the chair was made. I have amplified the chip's sound recording to be projected out of three hidden speakers behind the listener.

Statement of Purpose

The purpose of this sound installation is to make you time travel. If you have lived through the decades in question, you should know the answer to each chair's decade. If you are young and you're just a history buff, make a game out of guessing the era. The sound clips provided should blend together with one realization of how far us humans have progressed with art and technology.

Influences

My influences are the musicians, inventors, and presidents on these chips. If they hadn't made it big in history being the American President, or a famous musician, or an important inventor, these sounds and installation itself would not be possible. Our history would have been sculpted entirely different.

Fit with Larger Notion of Aesthetics

I have previously researched sound installation artists like John Cage and David Byrne to get new ideas on how to make a sound installation. When I started with this idea, I pictured a scientific sound version of something similar to the exhibits that they showcase at O.M.S.I. I wanted people to think of history in America right along with the science of sound and how it's transported through wiring, equipment, and soldering.

Materials and Methodology

I made the sound clips twenty seconds each because the sound chips provided by RadioShack only allow the user to record twenty seconds at a time. This fits perfectly within the guidelines because three chairs, at twenty seconds each, is one minute. This one minute was the allotted time we had in length for our sound installation clip. The sound clips have been edited using Garageband 10. The chairs are all from mine and my girlfriend's house. Devine Consign has offered to let us donate the hair dryer chair to their vintage area downstairs following the event.

I hope the installation was a success!

Outcomes

The results haven't happened yet, but I hope this all went well of course. I hope the soldered wires stay intact throughout the entire show. I hope I find a way to amplify the sound because the original speakers attached to the sound chips put off a small amount of volume.