Arduino Tones & Artist Talk –
Today was a really busy day because my group had a very brain intensive technical making session with Karsten Goodwin. This was followed by an artist talk by Nathan Télémaqu. I thoroughly enjoyed all of it, but I was soooo tired at the end of the day.
Interactive sound and light workshop (LDR trumpet)
In class, we explored microcontrollers and electronics. We looked at the interplay of light sound and code in a project based learning environment. We used light to bend tones on a custom circuit and learnt how to program and in order to play our own custom instruments.
Below are photos of some of the steps that were taken to make our custom circuits and program it to work with an Arduino Uno.
The Workshop Environment
The Breadboard
Wiring Steps
A Selection of Karsten’s Slides
Below is a gallery of some of Karsten’s main information slides for future reference. These include his GitHub address where he will be posting the full presentation.
The Fully Connected Breadboard and Arduino
The Results
The start of this video short shows Karsten with the kit fully wired, followed by me pressing the buttons to make sounds. The final part of the video shows how the tones can be manipulated by covering and uncovering the light sensor. Sadly there was t enough time to complete a slider and other additional features. However, the workshop provided an excellent example of what can be achieved by adding buttons and sensors to an Arduino. Many thanks to Karsten for such an excellent and thoroughly enjoyable workshop! He had the patience of a saint!
Artist Talk – Nathan Télémaqu
Following a much needed brain break, we went upstairs to have an artist talk by Nathan Télémaqu. Nathan was speaking about his work as an artist, writer, and researcher. He also covered his interest in Black geographies, urban and cultural geographies, visual practices, and archival research. I found Nathan’s work very interesting. I would like to learn more about his photographic journey, so I have listed his details below.
Nathan’s teaching/research profile: www.tinyurl.com/low-res-2024-06
Artist website: www.pesovisuals.com
Conclusion
I think there have been many really good ‘takeaways’ from both of today’s sessions. After being somewhat ‘scared’ of the Arduino and Breadboard I now actually believe that I could create something interesting on my own. My son has an Arduino he never uses so I think I will definitely be digging it out in the future. Nathan’s story was very inspiring and as soon as I have time I would like to look in more detail at his work snd website. A tiring but rewarding day.
