Altag at NTT InterCommunication Center

In 2017, we created an experiential exhibition space that fused auditory and tactile experiences for a special exhibition at NTT InterCommunication Center. Since it’s quite difficult to explain, I’ll refer you to the official site for accurate details.

I created this collaboratively with Natsumi Wada, whom I met after starting university and who also works with me on the Audio Game Center. I remember being asked to “create the sound of flowers” and responding with something like “Ugyo!!?!!?????!?!????!?!”

Since the exhibition has already ended and I think only images are posted (or maybe no images at all?), I’ll briefly explain.

There’s a room. At the entrance, you put on a helmet that completely covers your face. There are small holes around the eye area so you can see a little. A camera is also installed around the eye area. When you put on the helmet, headphones at ear level fit nicely.

When you enter the room, various objects are hanging from the ceiling. They’re suspended at different heights by strings, floating in the air. There are hard and soft objects, large and small ones, arranged in a maze-like formation.

When the camera mounted on the helmet recognizes a hanging object, corresponding sounds play through the headphones. The sounds come from the position where the object is located, so if you listen to the sound and approach that object, you’ll eventually touch it with your hands.

Sometimes you think there’s a very hard sound, but it turns out to be something incredibly soft. Sometimes you think there’s a very unpleasant sound, but the actual object is just an ordinary square building block.

I think this is an art piece. What kind of sounds can you attach to objects in the real world that don’t make sounds just by being there? How can you entertain people who get lost in a maze using this mechanism? That was my goal in creating this. My collaborator Wada probably had slightly different objectives. The appeal points written on the official site were likely written and submitted by Wada, so reading those will probably convey something meaningful. I also found an article, so I’ll include it in the related pages.

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