Cycle 3: Sensory Soul Soil
Posted: April 30, 2022 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment »For my cycle 3 project I shifted the soundscape a bit, changed two interfaces and the title. I honed in on two of the growers interviews. I wanted to illustrate the connection to what they’ve grown through an organic interface rather than the former plastic tree. For instance grower Sophia Buggs, started out growing Zucchini in kiddie pools because her grandmother used to make Zucchini bread. Highlighting this history I wanted the participant to feel the electricity Sophia and her grandmother felt with hands in the soil and on fresh zucchini. I worked with my classmate Patrick to clean the sound of Sophia’s interview because when I interviewed her we were in a noisy restaurant. He worked with me to level the crowd in the background and amplify Sophia’s voice to the foreground. I used two tomatoes to illustrate grower Julialynn’s expression “It was just me and two tomatoes!”. This is her origin story to growing her church’s community garden. Sensory Soul Soil in an experiment of listening with your hands, feeling your body, and seeing with your eyes and ears.
As for the set up I decided to start in front of the sensory soil box. I made this change so that I can better guide the participate in the experience. This go round I wanted to bring some color to the originally white box. I used Afro-Latinadad fabric to build in a sense of cultural identity through patterns and colors also representing those who have labored in our U.S. soil.
In the last iteration I didn’t really know how to bring the space to a close however within this cycle I closed the space with a charge to join the agricultural movement by getting involved anyway they can because the earth and their bodies will appreciate it. This call to action is and invitation to take this work beyond the performative, experiential space, and in to the world from which this inspiration came.
To get my sound to work the way I intended, I designed the trigger values and gates to be able to start the audio when touched and cut off when you are not connected. I found that having wav files for sound works better in the sound player. My MP3 continued to show in the movie player just an FYI.
Below you can see one of the Sensory Soul Soil experiences with Juilalynn and two tomatoes.
In the video below you will witness how I curated the space to be extremely immersive. My goal was to engage in the true labor of a grower not only by hearing their stories but also by embodying their movement. I changed the title because now all materials in this iteration are tress as before. I figured sense I come a culture of soul food, and food has the nutrients to feed the soul which comes from the soil why not call it what it is. A Senory Soul Soil experience.