David Guss
David Guss is a Professor of Anthropology at Tufts University. Last year, he invited long-time friend Bruce Odland to create a multidiscplinary interactive sonic art project at Tufts, and "Harmony in the Age of Noise" was born. David currently teaches a course entitled "The Architecture of Utopia," in which the idea of the college campus as utopia is explored and questioned. HAN expands this query by encouraging everyone to explore the sonic as well as the spatial and visual dimensions of utopia. David's academic interests lie in urban and aesthetic anthropology, theory, cultural performance, myth and ritual, popular culture, and Latin America. He has also extensively researched the historical theatres of Somerville, MA. David takes care of production for Harmony in the Age of Noise.
Lost Theatres of Somerville: http://www.losttheatres.org
Bruce Odland
Bruce Odland — sonic thinker, composer, and sound artist — is known for his large
scale, public space sound installations which transform city noise into harmony, realtime. He is also a long-time collaborator with Sam Auinger, in the sonic art group O+A. "Harmony in the Age of Noise" is Bruce's first collaboration with a college campus. In his off time, Bruce makes copious amounts of burritos and then feeds them to the Tufts Anthropology department. Bruce is the director and conceiver of this project, or the "perpetrator," in Bruce-speak.
Bruce's site: http://www.bruceodland.net
O+A site: http://www.o-a.info
Mark McNamara
Sculptor Mark McNamara is an artist living in New York who works with large-scale, mathematically inspired forms. His intricate, delicate structures share a focus on natural and sustainable materials. He is in charge of designing and directing the construction of the gazebo which will house the sound dial. He has devoted copious amounts of time and elbow grease into the making of this fantastic structure.
Mark's site: http://landonmark.net
Michael Luck Schneider
From dissecting clocks as a little boy to creating an interactive multi-modal trailer for children with disabilities as an adult, Michael Luck Schneider has sought to integrate technology into people's environments in a manner that appeals to their organic, artistic sensibilities. Michael works as a researcher, artist, and interaction designer, incorporating new technologies into interfaces and experience. He is currently working at ESI Design as an Interaction Designer and systems specialist. He does much of the computer programming required for this project, hooking up the live feed and internet sound uploads to the sound dial in the gazebo.
The Gazebo Team
The Gazebo Team, under the tutelage of Mark, will be constructing the gazebo within which the sound dial is housed. The Team consists of student volunteers from Tufts and the Museum School, including students from Mindy Nieremberg's "Art for Social Change" course at Tufts and from David Guss' "Architecture of Utopia" course.
The Sound Dial Team
The Sound Dial Team, working in tandem with Michael, is responsible for building the sound dial itself. It is quite a remarkable endeavor, as the sound dial is to be an entirely oiriginal, newly invented device. The Team consists of engineering students from Tufts. Here, graduate students Jimmy Hughes and Andy Margules (project manager) meet with Larry McMaster, head of the Physics Machine Shop. The Physics Machine Shop is custom-building the metal casing of the sound dial itself.
Above left, Andy is installing blue LED lights inside the perimeter of the sound dial mock casing. Above right, Peter O'Regan works on a light sheild/capacitance plate for the sound dial.
Andrew "Ozz" Oswald
Ozz likes interfacing technology to the world.
His background grew out of an ongoing interest in mobile robotics, and
his technical training was directed around how to build his robot
dog. He enjoys using his diverse interests and technical understanding as
an interpreter of "what is possible" between people's ideas and the
realization of a technological implementation. Professionally, he works as a product designer with an embedded
systems focus--he architects, designs and builds devices with the
"black-box" computers people never see.
He provided the electronics, and sensors for the dial. He is
currently working at nTAG (www.ntag.com) designing interactive name
tags, and occasionally provides design and consulting on interesting
technical projects.
To see some of his other projects, visit
www.ozyrobotics.com/art-of-noise.html
Mary-Ann Greanier
Mary-Ann Greanier, a long-time friend of Bruce, stepped in just when the project needed a savior the most. With a natural-remedy first-aid kit, massive reserves of determination, and a calmness to steady even the most deadline-frazzled nerves, she has contributed tremendously to the Gazebo-building process and the project in general. When the project is over, Mary-Ann will return to Plainsville, where she is a freelance writer.
Sarah Moshontz, HAN Blogger and Project Manager
Sarah was a skylark in the world of sacred noise and harmony. She subsisted only on the astrophysical plasmic medium vibrations. She traveled at the speed of sound. She lived that way for many years. As the noise floor of unintentional sound rose and rose, Sarah could no longer sustain herself; her anisotropic nature, that directional dependency, pulled her to the earth, into the age of noise. There she settled into a human body and for the past 23 years, Sarah has traveled far and wide - from California, to South Africa, to China - Sarah has been collecting the noises of humanity. She has come to this project, Harmony in the Age of Noise, to reconnect with her astral sound being soul. She is the HAN blogger, involved at all levels, carefully observing and telling the story of how our project is coming to fruition. She has also recently adopted the mantle of Project Manager, helping organize all the little pieces of this endeavor to get them to fuse together.
Yang and Tina, Web and Design Team
Yang Yang and Tina Ye are the HAN web/graphic design team. Yang is a graduate student at MIT studying computer science, while Tina is finishing up her fourth and last year in the "five" year Museum School/Tufts combined degree program. Yang writes the majority of the backend (PHP, MySQL, Ajax, you name it) of this website, while Tina handles the frontend: web design, HTML coding, etc. She also handles the design and production of promotional materials such as posters, invites, and stickers. In their spare time, Yang plays Bach fugues, eats grapefruit like a maniac, and ponders the future of video game design. Tina explores eco-blogs, delights in cooking, and ponders the present of art-making.
Yang: http://www.quarklet.com
Tina: http://www.sugardew.com
Lynn Wiles
Lynn is the Tufts Anthropology Department administrator. She lends us an expert hand in handling many of the logistics of the project, such as tracking funding and paperwork. She also has a cute dog with soft ears named Theo.
http://www.lynnwiles.com/ (under construction)
Sound Mappers
Sound mappers are the hunters and gatherers of our project. They go out into the field and collect sound samples, photographs, and videos, which are then uploaded to our main server and plotted on a map. These sounds and visuals are ultimately woven together to create sonic stories, which are then loaded into the sound dial. Sound mappers hail from all corners of the Tufts community and beyond.
Here, Matt Morin, a student at Tufts, captures strange ventilation noises on his recorder in the Granoff Music Center.
Matt is working with fellow student
Phill Acimovic. With the help of Bruce Odland, they create a multi-channel recording.
Ellie Lammer, a student in David's "Architecture of Utopia" course, is meeting here with Mike _____ from the Somerville Museum to discuss collaborating with area high school students.
Here, Bruce works with Brownie Scouts from a local school, doing sound mappings. These girls are super smart! When Bruce said that he wanted them to take pictures of sound, one girl pointed out, "You can't take pictures of sound, only sound sources."
Helpers and Collaborators
Harmony in the Age of Noise would not be possible without the help of many many people. Beyond those involved in the actual conception of the project, there are those who have lent a hand here or there, whether it is hanging a tuning tube on the outside of a building or helping us get the technology we need to run the project.
Here Ron Esposito and Jim Newell are on a site visit to hang the tuning tube for the Main Drag.
We have also received a ton of help from the guys at the Tufts Facilities Woodworking shop. It was them, with their carpentry know-how and skill, who turned our salvaged old solid oak church pews into 6 beautiful, smooth, perfectly joined modular components for the base of the gazebo. They deserve a million thanks for all their time and effort.