Re: [ARSCLIST] New challenges for audio preservation

[David Lennick <dlennick@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Karl Miller wrote:

> First off, a disclaimer...while I try to keep my posts on the serious
> side...
>
> This one is yet another indication of the world of commerce not paying
> attention to preservation...I wonder if her product needs to have a
> warning about shedding oxide.
>
> Karl

Depends on how often it gets worn into singles bars.

One good magnet........

dl

>
>
> Pardon, Your Dress Is Singing
>
> By Rachel Metz  |
>
> Think those mix tapes are passé? More like haute couture.
>
> Sound and visual artist Alyce Santoro has created Sonic Fabric, a cloth made
> from pre-recorded, recycled cassette tape combined with other fibers. Using
> a minimally hacked Walkman, the fabric becomes an audible reminder of its
> musical past.
>
> Sonic Fabric feels a bit like flexible plastic tarp, and is durable and
> hand-washable. Santoro's work has drawn lots of oohs and aahs, and is making
> waves in the design world.
>
> She came up with the idea in 2001 as a conceptual art project where she used
> strands of cassette tape to determine the direction of the wind, combining
> the idea of wind-activated prayers on Tibetan prayer flags with her childhood
> love of sailing.
>
> "As kid I would imagine I could hear sound coming off the tape if the wind
> hit it the right way," Santoro said.
>
> She knitted a pre-recorded tape into potholder-shaped prototypes by hand.
> Later she tried a commercial loom and found her eighth-inch wide cassette
> tape fit onto it perfectly. Soon she began weaving tape with cotton.
>
> Her first try yielded two yard-long panels that, for all she knew, would
> never make a peep.
>
> Then one day in 2002, another artist suggested running a Walkman tape head
> over the fabric. They extracted a sound piece from a Walkman and mounted it
> on a block of wood. Moving it across the fabric, Santoro heard the cumulative
> noise of five tracks of sound.
>
> "It sounds kind of like scratching a record backward. It's pretty garbled,"
> she said.
>
> Her latest creations play 20 tracks at once. She creates sound collages on a
> four-track, and the reader picks up five strands at a time.
>
> Though it doesn't sound like Bach, her current work has taken off. She's
> worked with some designers to create a dress for Phish drummer Jon Fishman,
> which he "played" in concert.
>
> Instead of splicing tapes together herself, a tape duplication specialist on
> Long Island now records Santoro's sound collages. She sells Tibetan
> monk-inspired bags and her take on Tibetan prayer flags online and at some
> stores. High-profile companies like Target and Nissan have also expressed
> interest in her work.
>
> Santoro is overwhelmed by the attention.
>
> "To me, the important part is being able to walk around in your favorite
> music or sound," she said.
>
> "It's an absolutely fabulous product," said Samantha Delman-Caserta, co-owner
> of Brooklyn, New York, eco-conscious store 3R Living, which sells Santoro's
> products. She said customers love the look and feel of Sonic Fabric.
>
> Eventually, Santoro hopes to make fabrics that can play individual sounds,
> and she's working with another artist on a compact fabric reader.
>
> For now, though, she's still a little starry-eyed.
>
> "I never in a million years expected to take the project this far," she said.