Anarchy's Piano
[Mechanism Sculpture]
Tobias Cochran
RISD ID 2021
Video: https://youtu.be/wW4V6Bn3Rfw
The intention behind this project was to create a mechanism that represented the idea of "celebration." My interpretation of the prompt was to create an instrument - or at least a mechanism that would produce a sound. I began experimenting with a couple ideas for how I could make sound with simple basswood rods that would emphasize their material while still creating a satisfying noise.
I expanded on my initial ideas by creating higher fidelity pully wheels as well as experimenting with the scaffolding that I intended to hold the final mechanism.
The final mechanism culminated in a music/sound box that featured four rows of tines that ring when the mechanism's handle is rotated and engages the system of pullies by which everything is connected. The ringing of the tines is chaotic as the periods of each pullies' rotation are not equal. Consequently, the sound is less musical more like crowd - excited and vibrating.
