GIANT MUSIC BOX
INTERACTIVE, LARGE MECHANICAL MUSIC BOX, 1992
BRENDA HUTCHINSON (US)
Giant Music Box was originally created as an interactive music exhibit for the Exploratorium in San Francisco. It was created in response to a challenge about what it meant for something to ‘sound good’. The prevailing belief at that time was that only consonant intervals were appropriate for a general audience i.e. the pentatonic scale. Attempting to disprove this notion, the artist decided to use small brass bars tuned to quarter tones. At the same time Brenda, the artist, wanted to create an interface that could provide a satisfying musical experience for people who knew nothing about music and who were quite likely strangers to one another. She chose the form of the music box for its sonic delicacy as well as for its potential for a programmable interface.
BIO
Brenda is a composer and sound artist whose work is based on the cultivation and encouragement of openness in her own life and in those with whom she works. Through her work with large-scale experiments in socially based improvisations and interactions, Brenda has developed a body of work focused on interacting with the public and non-artists through personal, reciprocal engagement with listening and sounding.
Her ongoing projects and invitational work can be accessed through the dailybell2008 blog, and the dailybell.sunwatch and whatcanyoudo2012 Facebook pages. In 2008, she trained as a volunteer with the Hospice and Palliative Care programme at Jewish Family and Children’s Services of San Francisco. Since that time, she continues to visit clients weekly and has expanded her involvement with end-of-life issues and practises.