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MADE IN CYLAND

ALEXEY GRACHEV

WEATHER STATION 1, ATMOSPHERIC-ACOUSTIC TRANSDUCER

Sound art object, 2012


Vintage aluminum case, stand, speakers, microcontroller, Arduino programming, Max/MSP programming, Mac Mini, environmental sensors


Engineers: Alexey Grachev, Sergei Komarov

Most people do not know what the famous scientist Leon Theremin (author of the electro-musical instrument the Theremin) did during his imprisonment at the design bureau TsKB-29 NKVD (Central Design Bureaux). However, during eight years at that bureau, Soviet science made a giant step forward in developing electrical engineering. That was precisely when Theremin developed the concept of transmitting information using tonal-rhythmic musical drawings. After all, being a prisoner, he understood the importance of connecting with the outside world when the world is invisible and imperceptible… Weather Station 1 is a reflection by Alexey Grachev on how a portable atmospheric-acoustic transducer would have looked if he had created it as an engineer. The instrument's purpose is to observe the state of the atmosphere by transforming data from the sensors into a melody.

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