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steel, plywood, amplifier, cables, speakers, music / dimensions vary
Placemats is a design and situational piece that allows participants to bring all their music to the dinner table as an additional social stimulant. Each place setting has an input to a mixer and amplifier as well as a 6-inch speaker facing them. All four inputs are mixed equally and participants are free to change the volume of their input on their device and no instructions are given as to how to manage the airtime each person gets.
Placemats explores music as social communication, as a major part of one's identity that normally might not be revealed until well into a relationship. Mp3 players now allow us to carry around, in a sense, our identities. How would people manage this additional form of communication in a somewhat formal situation with equality of output?
Placemats was installed in the dining area of the Cranbrook architecture studio and in the Forum Gallery and used by several groups of people. I cooked dinner for all groups and asked them to bring a music player of some sort. One group did not seem to enjoy the situation and found it to be a distraction, while most groups enjoyed the situation and found their own way to interface with the apparatus and each other.
click here to view a video of the first two Placemats participant groups
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