Pressure Project #3 – Tomato Tales
Posted: April 16, 2026 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment »From my understanding this pressure project was to create an audio-based experience tied to a cultural subject close to you. We only had 5 hours total to work on it. Maybe due to the amount of work, I had ahead of me at the time, in this course and others I decided to go with the first idea that came to me. I thought of tomatoes.
In a design course taken in the prior semester, we did an on visual mapping exercise. We had to make a map about tomatoes within the class period, anything about tomatoes. Most people chose cooking processes or the life cycle of a tomato as an agricultural good. I tried to find a connection between tomato sauces, as I thought of mole (the sauce) and how every culture around the world seems to have their own version of tomato sauce…so where did tomatoes come from and how did they get to Italy?
It was colonialization, because of course it was. But Tomatoes originate from South America in the Inca Empire and flourished in the Aztec Empire.
It’s not the prettiest chart but I spent most of the exercise learning about tomatoes.
So, I made an audio experience using tomatoes as the means of interaction. While we weren’t allowed to show any visuals through the first playthrough I planned to reveal the control panel for the sounds with a second playthrough (which was allowed). I prompted the audience to try to piece together a narrative taking place, before and after the second playthrough.
As for the audio I built a library of 15th century Inca instruments, Aztec instruments and 16th century Spanish instruments. I began the recording with a sound of seeds rattling in a bag, followed by Inca instruments, gradually joined by Aztec performances showcasing the migration and meeting of two cultures. Aztec celebratory performances take the lead for a bit, to indicate the prosperity of the empire and cultivation of the crop. What follows is a change of lighting and sound. Waves and grumbling can be heard, followed with heavy footfall. A Spanish guitar plays a riff and is met with an Aztec Death Flute (scary ass sound) but is quickly cut off by the boom of a musket. This was to show way weapons (guns) from Spanish and other Western colonial forces were able to lethally end even the mightiest of native empires. To conclude waves and ship sailing sounds ensue again; a ren faire sounding band performance plays (apparently the sound of Italy at the time) along with chopping noises (the tomato is being used).
Shout out to Luke to basically nailing the message on the head when I prompted everyone to guess.
The recording process was very stupid. I used the Makey Makey and their soundboard app, however it doesn’t have a feature that lets you record in browser. So, I set up a microphone beside my speaker, and I am so shocked it didn’t sound horrible. I realized I more made a tactile activity for myself and gave far more cerebral activity for my audience (thinking game).
I chose this topic because colonialization is the primary driving force that has led to the life I live today. Colonialization is what makes me an American and not some random person in Ireland or Germany right now (where my ancestors are from). Colonialization is what provides us with iPhones, clothes…bananas most stuff really. My partner is here because her ancestors were stolen from their country and brought here as slaves. Behind almost every invention, creature comfort, and privilage that makes up the West is covered in a history of bloodshed… Including spaghetti if you follow the threads enough. This isn’t something to make people feel bad or anything. Knowing this type of thing is impotrant to me, how much violence makes up the creature comforts we have today. Who am I harming or partcipating in the harm of by consuming in the empire I live in now? How do I react to learning this things?
The good news is, I don’t really like tomatoes anyway.
Mole is pretty good though.