SOUND/MEMORY
What if we were able to pick and
choose what sounds were meaningful
to us?
What if we were able to imbed these
sounds in our photo albums and
journals?
What if our meaningful sounds were
sent to us in a tangible form? These were some of the questions I ended up asking myself in this sound and memory project. I tested the relationship between ambient sounds in people's lives and what past memories those sounds triggered. The results were very interesting. What I learned is that here are certain sounds that trigger similar memories in people. Sound does instantly trigger a individual specific memory. People enjoy having their memories stirred by sound.
Test: Sounds played for people to see what memory they triggered.
Test: Sound journal with prerecorded sounds imbedded in the pages. I asked people to journal to the memory the sound triggered.
Test: Outside cover of the Art Center Media Design program sound scrapbook.
Test: Inside page of the Art Center Media Design program sound scrapbook. When the black box in the bottom right corner of the book is pressed, the sound of the studio door beeping and slamming shut is played.
I conducted several experiments with people to see how they reacted to ambient sounds and if they liked the idea of being able to imbed them in a journal experience. What I learned was that people like to report on the experience of being and what that means to them individually.
As people observe, listen, and recall they are easily able to find a place where a moment, and memory, exist.
Trying to find a way to incorporate sound with memories in an tangible object that people can not only write what they see, but attach what they hear ends up adding a new dimension to an experience of journaling.
This led me to investigate more closely the scrapbooking community. Scrapbooking is the preservation of memories in a creative way.
Instead of just placing photographs in a photo album, a scrapbooker aims to capture the feeling and the mood associated with their memories.
When you look at a page in a photo album, you see a few photographs, but when you enjoy the pages of a well-executed scrapbook, you are transported to a different time.
The last experiment I conducted was on myself. I set out to make a sound imbedded scrapbook experience of the Media Design Program. I recorded the sound of our studio door beeping and slamming, somebody complaining about the Make controller not working, and two students speaking Korean to one another. I imbedded these sounds using small recorders in an album with images text and pictures. As a person turns the pages of the book, they can push the black square on each page and hear the sounds associated with it. I believe if I were to look at this book in 10 years the sounds imbedded in the album would trigger a whole set up memories that an image would fail to help me recall.
I believe as we dive deeper and deeper into the technologically driven 21st century, we desire to be easily brought back into the presence of our living. By trying to create both a visual and emotional experience through the combination of photography, sound, collage, and objects, people can get back to
this place easily and remember what is important in their life.
