SF0 / kristingish / The Gamut of Odors

75 + 80 points

The Gamut of Odors by kristin gish, steve rules

June 30th, 2008 11:44 AM / Location: 42.027424,-88.07993

INSTRUCTIONS: Create a bouquet of sound.

Le Bouquet De Bonne
This started off as many things do: One single thought.

This thought and our over all product blossomed, not quickly, but over a long period of time only after many trips to various thrift stores, craft stores & the excavating & relocation of one potted plant from my side-table.

I suppose that the mission here could have been interpreted in any way one would want to go, but the simplest is what we did and in turn.. the simplest turned out to be quite difficult.

We were able to collect various supplies including 3 speakers, 3 tape decks, numerous circuit boards, numerous pairs of headphones, old wire hangers, fake flowers, beading wire, fake moss, green foam, bonding glue.. and many other things.

Our positions were clear. Steve was the Audio Technician and I was in charge of Arrangement.

After Steve successfully hooked the audio from the tape decks up to the speakers, I then converted the speakers into flowers with glue and patience. I used beading wire to secure the speakers onto a wire hanger which I wrapped around the fake flower stems. Pain in hands and frustration were worth it though.

We nested the two tape decks on top of two green foam blocks inside of our planter and then added more foam blocks and fake moss on top of that, making sure the tape decks were near enough to the surface for us to press the play buttons. We planted our bouquet inside of this arrangement, fixing it with the foam and propping it up with some used circuit boards, also known as 'foliage'.

Although the pictures are interesting, make sure to catch the bouquet in action in our video below.

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We hope you enjoy this presentation, as it has taken longer than any other task so far.

Thank you.

Kristin Gish

- smaller

Le Bouquet De Bonne

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Spefloakower.

A lot of glue and wire was required to support the speakers.

Steve at work

The walkmen are hooked up to the speakers via old headphone jacks and spare audio wire.

What a mess.

On the right is one of the walkmen we used.

Circuitboards.

Random circuit boards, some were used, some were not.

Speaker bits.

An old paper box held most of the equipment we used.

Walkman #1

This walkman had to be pulled open to work, and while we were tinkering with it we added a rubber band that rubbed against the main wheel, which created a distorted sound by alternately slowing down and speeding up the tape.

Kristin-Ikebana

We used hangers to support the speakers, which were much heavier than the original flowers.

Pot, Flowers. Flowers, Pot.

The flowers shortly before pot insertion.

Slicing foam.

We jammed the base of the flowers into this foam for support. Worked well, but then again I guess that's what this stuff is for.

Flowerpotman.

These are the two walkmen that we inserted into the pot. Later the moss was put over them to obscure them, but we left the tops visible so we could push the "play" button.

Ikebana-Kristin

Kristin arranges the flowers.

First attempt.

At this point the flowers were pretty much ready to go. Unfortunately, we didn't have the materials to secure the wires properly, so in the process of arrangement several connections came loose. They were easily fixed.

Flowspeaker

Close-up shot of one of the speakers.

Speakerpot.

The speakers in their final location. They still sit there, and definitely have a unique look.

Sir cut boreds.

The circuit boards, in addition to having the effect of foliage, provide some extra support for the speakers. Without the circuit boards all of the flowers looked pretty sad.

Speakflower.

Another close up shot.

Ex-tape.

After running the audio bouquet for about 15 seconds it promptly started to eat tapes. The warbly, rubber-band walkman worked fine but the other one, which is clearly audible in the beginning of the video, didn't want to play along.

L: Kristin Gish R: Steve Rules