Cities have always inspired musicians. However, a Toronto-based OCADU student, Marc de Pape, has recently created an instrument called the Chime that collects data based on urban life using 18 different sensors and 27 different parameters including light, temperature, wind, movement and noise. With this data, the Chime allows the city to not only inspire music, but to play it.
As Ben Spurr wrote in NOW Magazine, “The data collected by each sensor has a corresponding musical sound: if a person or vehicle moves towards the Chime, it translates into a xylophone playing up the scale. If it moves away, a xylophone plays down the scale. Quiet noises produce a piano sound, while louder ones elicit strings. The key of the song is dependent on the temperature.”
Marc de Pape hopes the project will make urbanites see their daily life a little differently.
How else can the activity of cities be collected and reapplied?
Via NOW Magazine and Marc de Pape
