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Curious Sound Objects: detergent bottles become theremins

By Lisa Smith - March 25, 2010

in Tech | Object Culture

This project is beyond awesome: Georg Reil and Kathy Scheuring, both students at the University of Applied Sciences in Würzburg-Schweinfurt, have created A Fine Collection of Curious Sound Objects, where six everyday objects become exceptional, magical instruments with unusual abilities.

For example, a detergent bottle gains theremin-like capabilities, a simple canvas shoe amplifies the sound of foot-tapping by tenfold, a messenger bag becomes a cavern of echoes, and a bucket collects sound and empties it out all at once when tipped.

The project was built with Arduino and Processing, but the technical components are so well concealed that only their uniform blackness and tiny connection ports point to their uniqueness. According to Reil and Scheuring, each piece pursues the laws laid out by John Maeda in Simplicity: "They are enjoying to use, they are surprising and one wants to explore and investigate them."

A few more pictures follow, but the video says it all.

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joaquin

15 years ago

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it would go perfect to a live music performance
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Arturo Vidich

15 years ago

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Hey, nice work. We did something similar to the shoes you made. The link is above.
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