Nafasi Yako Ni Ya Kijani

Walter Kitundu - 415-200-9331

kitundu@gmail.com

Nafasi Yako Ni Ya Kijani

Hi Ranjit,

Here is a quick overview of the project followed by what I hope is a helpful articulation of what I need the arduino(s) to do. Thank you for lending your considerable talents to helping me out.

The title comes from an Iranian phrase that essentially means “there is grass growing where you should have been.” This work is a is a remembrance of both Pauline Oliveros and Cameron Hockenson, both of whom I only met through their work, both of whom graced the grounds of Montalvo.

The piece is about listening. It’s visually sparse to center the act of listening and reflection as you take in the scope of the lawn and surrounding trees. As you sit in the chair, sounds slowly begin to emerge from different directions in the environment. Some merge with all the ambient sound that exists, wind, voices, birdsong; other sounds are sharply audible and crystalline.

The work consists of a handmade rocking chair on a low circular deck in the great lawn near the trees. The empty chair, a symbol of absence when the work is unoccupied. One reason I chose a rocking chair is that it can’t be rushed. It has a particular cadence and rhythm.

The chair is linked to a switch in the base which uses no power. Their is a piezoelectric element that transmits a radio signal when pressed (this technology is used in wireless switches in homes).

Hidden in the trees surrounding the chair are small receivers linked to microcontrollers that play very brief, carefully composed pieces. The instruments are nested in the trees, almost out of sight

Check out the gallery below. The captions should help.

The initial rendering of the chair and deck in relation to nearby trees

the rocking chair prototype. it has a ratcheting system that slowly clicks a piezo battery-less switch (see video) on and off as people rock.

the deck as built on site

the sound vessels (speakers) made from used conga drums

suspended in the trees

the receivers/arduinos/tech will be at ground level in weatherproof plastic boxes.

This is the odd one out, a bell ringer that requires separate programming. the other four sound vessels all have the same programming.

there is a solenoid that tugs on the string ringing the bells. if you have a relay that you've used with the arduino before, I'm open to recommendations because the bell ringer needs 12 volts.

just another gratuitous view of one of the sound vessels on site.

overview...

THE PROGRAMMING PLAN - If you can help me by developing the functional program framework, I'd love to be able to change parameters to compose the final piece. feel free to send any and all questions. Hopefully the programming challenges are not complex - I've tried to devise a system that is stable and not data driven.

1- rocking chair sends signal via battery-less switch - right is a video of the initial test at 200 feet

2- receiver gets signal and switches on 110v power to a 5v transformer.

3- arduino (which is powered separately) detects STATE CHANGE from 5v transformer

4- arduino randomly chooses a wait interval from several options before activating mp3 trigger

5- arduino tells mp3 trigger to randomly play 1 of the files on the sd card

6- file plays completely (duration can be from 5 sec to 5 minutes) Does the mp3 trigger send a signal when a track is complete? because of varying duration, it’s best if the arduino can know when the sound files end before re-entering “standby” mode. Hopefully the mp3 trigger outputs this sort of signal.

Also the arduino should detect the state of power (on or off) from the 5v transformer and activate the mp3 trigger based on a change.

That is the expectation for 4 of the 5 stations. The last one is a bell ringer and needs the program to do the following...

1- once a state change is detected, begin clock

2- if the last state change was 25 minutes ago, power relay to send 12v power to bell ringer for 30 seconds

3- wait for next state change

4- begin timing from each state change until clock reaches 25 minutes

The idea is that the bells only ring after people are gone, a nod to the fact that this piece is a memorial, a reflection on loss. But I'd also like the bells to stay silent at night so the timer has to engage after use but stay dormant after the bells ring.

TECH - I can fedex you these to program - let me know what other materials you will need

ARDUINO UNO

THE MP3 SHEILD

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12660

some info from my talk with Taylor... try this link: https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/mp3-player-shield-hookup-guide-v15
this is the issue with these kind of instructions - they get updated here but not there
you've got to DL this:
https://github.com/madsci1016/Sparkfun-MP3-Player-Shield-Arduino-Library uncompress it
find SDFAT and SFEMP3Shield and recompress them as separate folders
then these will import into arduino

THE 5V transformer as a source for the arduino to detect TBD

FYI - these things are pretty cool

Breezesmile Wireless Light Switch Kit- No Wiring No Wi-Fi Battery-free Self-powered Switch with Receiver

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LXJA8SR/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_UAaqht9a5EXHG