Project Proposal

Project idea

A kinetic sound sculpture within the bookshelf inviting moments of collective listening within the quiet library. The sound sculpture and performance explore the narratives stored in a bookshelf in non-verbal forms through material resonance.

Goals for Dec 2025:

Explore different combinations of materials and movements and create a prototype
Building the foundation of a working system that I can build from
Understand the mechanism behind the movement and think deeper about how can it relate to the conceptual aspect
Narrow down the materials and movement → which ones would I like to go deeper into

Goal for this week!

Generate 12 shit ideas!

What to think about?

Material of the bookshelf is wood - should the material of the sound sculpture be wood, or using the wooden shelf to amplify the sound?
How can sound design encourage social interaction?
Can a sound sculpture be both aesthetic and functional?
Playing with constraints of the environment (library)
What is the functionality of a bookshelf, a public library?

Ideas on how it would look like:

concentric patterns
listening to from a tube

Sound sculpture

Exploring kinetic movements (rotational, oscillatory, vibrational, percussive, floating) with step motors, solenoids, etc.
The sound sculpture will be in a library, so the sound will not be continuous → program the sound sculpture to turn on at 8am, turn off at 8pm, and do an action once an hour, etc.

Performance

Performing with the sound sculpture - connecting arduino/pico with Max
(June 2026) Idea - the sound sculpture could be placed inside the bookshelf, and performing with it → activation of the bookshelf, it being alive?

Initial list of parts and components you think you will need