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Explorator clapper Installations

Artefact Behaviour

Explorator clapper is programmed to sonically investigate its location’s acoustic properties with its environmentally-reactive cochlear vocalisations. Within its Hyper- Soundwalk Series installation scenario, Clapper can be seen as a mechatronic stand-in for artistically similar related works such as David Dunn’s trumpeters in Nexus 1 or Terry Fox within his 1972 performance Tower Room where Fox played a tambourine for six hours a day for three days to “fully test room’s acoustics” [61]. However, unlike Dunn and Fox’s works that are realised with human performers, Clapper investigates environmental acoustics through the use of automated electronic and mechatronic systems.

During run-time, Clapper does not deviate from the basic Explorator genus firmware functionality while the artefact’s unique operational logic is contained within the species-specific function. Clapper orientates its ears by spending one minute listening to the sonic environment. After the setup is complete, Clapper initiates a clap vocalisation to test its acoustic environment. Clapper then listens again. If it hears an echo, or response to its vocalisation, it responds with another clap with an amplitude corresponding to the relative loudness of the identified sound. When extended quiet periods occur or when it is dry, hot, and bright, Clapper is likely to attempt to re-initiate a dialogue with the sonic environment by clapping again.

Exhibitions

Clapper was exhibited five times in three states in Hyper-Soundwalk Series installations following a pop-up installation strategy. The 1844 g, 200 x 200 x 215 mm artefact demonstrated a 62% weight and approximately 54% volume reduction compared to Chipper, allowing it to be transported by a single person with ease. Clapper’s power capacity of 35.3 Wh, and average energy consumption of 640 mWh resulted in average real-world runtime of 47.15 hours allowing it to be successfully installed on the Badwater Basin salt flats in Death Valley, California on January 1st; on the top of the Grand Canyon on January 3rd; in Arizona’s Tuzigoot ruins on January 4th; in the freezing cold Great Salt Lake in Utah on January 6th; and in the Sierra Nevada Foothills on the January 17th.

While there were concerns regarding the artefact’s resilience to environmental conditions due to the breakout PCB access port, after numerous in-situ installations in potentially harmful environments, the artefact did not occur damage or experience unwanted liquid ingress. However, the most significant factor determining the success of Clapper’s installation scenario is the acoustic properties of the location it is installed. As the capabilities of Clapper’s onset detection algorithms are limited, for Clapper to behave as intended, the exhibition venue must exhibit very loud and distinct echos. When Clapper is installed in such a location it performed well, testing the reverberations of the space and attempting to synchronise its vocalisations with the echos. However, when a distinct acoustic echo is lacking, Clapper was unable to realise this scenario. For these installations, the artefact’s non-cochlear visual feedback system proved invaluable at providing a connection between the artefact’s cochlear augmentations and the in-situ sonic environment.