I’m Laughing at Clouds – Université Anglia Ruskin

New commission for Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge

I’m Laughing at Clouds, a permanent commission for a new campus for the Health and Social Care Faculty at Anglia Ruskin University has obtained planning permission and will be launched in 2015.

An ensemble of nine tactile columns, which detect the heartbeat of participants and convert their systolic readings into a composition of light and sound.

I’m Laughing at Clouds modifies public lighting to make it react to the individual. By touching sensors embedded in the lighting columns, the passerby creates a composition of light and sound. The lampposts are programmed to respond to the human touch and record the frequency of the person’s heartbeat. This data is presented through the illumination of the columns and also through samples of children’s voices. Simple sung notes will be recorded from children attending Brunswick Nursery School. As visitors touch the sensors a child’s voice  will sing a note, then at the point the heartbeat is registered the note will be follow the rhythm of the heartbeat. Both the illumination and the sound will get progressively softer until they both drift away completely, only to be reignited by the sensor being touched again.

I’m Laughing at Clouds acknowledges it neighbours, the Medical Faculty, the Music Therapy Course and the Nursery, referring to the essence of human life and health, vocal harmonies and childhood.

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