In the course of a 2 months-long residency at osmo/za, artist and synth developer Václav Peloušek will work closely with the local community while facilitating the process of developing a creative tool – from ideation to the final product. The aim of the residency is to actively involve a group of participants in a comprehensive, bottom-up process of tool development, which will not only enrich the artistic practice, but also sustain the community by using the product as a potential source of its income.
The first part of the residency (May/June) consisted of an intensive development process, in which participants formed an initial idea and in a community spirit brought to life a multi-sensorial sound synthesizer called OctoSens. Having four analog and two digital inputs for external sensors, as well as two touchpads, the OctoSens offers eight different ways of altering the desired parameters of sound. A built-in microphone, two tactile sensors and a digital synthesizer integrated in the microcontroller enable us to use OctoSens on its own even without external sensors and other instruments. You can simply connect the OctoSens to a speaker and start creating.
Participants already tested the first prototype at PIFcamp, which brings us to the final part of the residency. During the whole month of September Václav will help bring the community closer to its goal – making OctoSens an innovative and competitive product on the quickly evolving market of electronic instruments. This means focusing on software development, testing and documentation.
The goal of this project is not solely the process of product development and sale, but it is foremost an effort of creating a community that brings together different generations, providing an interdisciplinary environment that offers an invaluable exchange of knowledge between professional engineers, artists, students of different fields and audio-electronics enthusiasts.
Timeline
PART 1 – May/June 2021
tool ideation, interface design, prototyping, drawing schematics, making and ordering circuit boards, making bills of materials, writing Arduino library, prototyping
PART ½ – PIFcamp 2021
prototyping/testing/revisions, development of a creative application/performance
PART 2 – September 2021
Testing final prototypes, DIY kit making, documentation, designing a workshop format and product presentation development of a creative application/performance
Want to participate?
We will continue with the project on September 9th at 5pm, @ osmo/za, Ljubljana.
Apply here: https://forms.gle/JPZTFk4LvDUmoMeZ9
More info: delavnice@projekt-atol.si