Art Metropole

#07771

Walking Machine - Thompson, Jessica

Artist

Jessica Thompson

Date

2003

Format

Multiples

Details

Multiple

Included in this yellow and black plastic lunch box are omni-directional lapel microphones, mini amplifier, headphones for adjustable dimensions.

The Walking Machine is a portable audio piece designed to enable wearers to move through urban areas hearing the amplified sound of their own footsteps in real time. The piece consists of two lapel microphones modified to clip to low-cut shoes, a mini amplifier and a set of headphones. By broadcasting the sound directly as a result of his or her own motion and gesture, the wearer becomes controller, performer and audience, inhabiting a space which is both physical and virtual. The effect is that of a private game in public space, where movement and gesture become a means of articulating presence and the simple act of walking becomes both legitimized and liberated through technological intervention.