Audio installation. Interactive emotive prosthesis that moans when touched.
The Alphabet installation comprises a wooden column with tactile sensors, a platform, an audio system and a computer system.
A radar detects the presence of the spectator in the room and when someone comes in the pillar moans. When the user finally touches or embraces the column, it utters sounds. They are onomatopoeic sounds organized in four emotive states: anguish, pleasure, happiness and pain. A sensor situated in the top part of the column identifies and chooses the "emotive state".
Alphabet emphasizes the idea of body interaction; the size of the trunk, its acoustic reaction and the need to take part physically all encourage the spectator to become involved in the game.
It is normal to become emotional when listening to music or to cry when watching a film. These devices are good substitutes for human emotions. However, our relationship towards artistic devices is almost always passive. Alphabet, on the contrary, is an emotional prosthesis and, by its reaction, it invites us to shake off our passive receptor role and to become emotional players.