Philip Blackburn and his Talking Plant

Here's the video of some of the reactions and interactions with my plant. You can't even be vegan any more without eating a sentient being.

Bird Dance at the Singing Garden

View in Hi Def for better results (those millett rattles sound terrible when compressed). Also here is a 3D interactive model of the event using 625 photos by Preston Wright.

People/Plant Dialogues

One of the surprise hits of the festival was the Talking Plant. It was amazing to see the pyschic shock and awe when people (of all ages) realized their behavior could affect a plant's internal life. I told them that plants have evolved successfully because they are responsive to their environment: light, water, heat, vibration. That activity can be measured in the small amounts of electricity it generates, picked up by the EEG sensor, mangled by the MaxMSP patch and made audible by triggering some of the 2000+ samples.

Some people danced, asked it questions (Are you a girl or a boy? What's your name? What's your favorite color? What's your favorite drink?), tickled, fondled, caressed, struck, blew, watered and communed with it.

It was interesting to me to see that normal people can accept the weirdest blips and vegetable booping noises if it is related to their actions and context, whereas sitting in a concert hall the same sounds would be eagerly rejected.

A video of these moments will be edited one day. In the meantime here are some stills.

What a week it was!

Here is the complete timelapse video of the Rise and Fall of the Singing Garden. More to follow;

We are in business

The flowers and sounds are in place, lovely dancing from Jan Louise's team, and young and old are enjoying the plant orchestra. Here's the video of the setting up process. The tear-down will follow all too soon.

In the midst of setting up

It shouldn't be 50º and raining today but it is and the flowers don't mind, only the hordes of volunteers putting this all together. So far so good: Plants looks great, speakers in place and beginning to look like toadstools. They sound fine but much more subtle than indoors away from bus engine noises. Tomorrow is perfecting the spinnies and firing up the talking plant.

Lovely story in the Pioneer Press above and below the fold.

Here's the invite to my friends:

Stroll through the Singing Garden and converse with a Talking Plant

Please visit Philip Blackburn’s sound installation this weekend. You will hear a 20-channel soundscape created from dozens of vegetable sounds (from coconut milk to Rice Krispies to acorn squash clarinets); a kind of vegan frogpond at dusk. Don’t miss the spinning flower beds that strike bamboo chimes in a spatial phasing pattern (a safe alternative to LSD). You will notice this all takes place in a colorful 50-foot diameter flower carpet pieced together by the St. Paul Parks Department. Pretty.

Then there’s the Talking Plant. This is a Bird of Paradise plant that has been wired up with a brainwave sensor that spits out MIDI signals from its stalk. J. Anthony Allen wrote the MaxMSP patch to convert those data to trigger yet more vegetable samples (from cactus needles to rubber bands). Amaze your friends by playing the plant like an organic Theremin; it’s an intelligent salad.

This is all part of the Flint Hills International Childrens Festival at the Ordway and throughout Rice Park so bring the family and you’ll find plenty of other stuff to do. All free.

More on the Singing Garden and the Talking Plant:
http://oddsandendsorchestra.blogspot.com/

When:
Friday, May 29-Sunday, May 31
9 am — 4pm

Where:
Landmark Plaza, next to Landmark Center (where the skating rink usually is), Rice Park, downtown St. Paul (take the 5th Street or Kellogg exit from 94)

The Talking Plant Talks

Ever wondered what plants think when you play with them? Some say that saying nice things will help them grow and that playing heavy metal causes them to wilt. They did evolve pretty well to find light and nutrients and whatever life force is going up and down their stalks might contain their deepest wisdom...

Anyway, here's what this Bird of Paradise had to say when I conversed with it this evening. I bet the kids have fun with this next week: it's quite sciencey and amusing in a metaphysical sort of way.