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Mary
Tsiongas
August
2003
"The
Aviary"
Exhibited at:
The ForSite
Foundation (in the Sierra's) Spring
2003
Lincoln Center, New York, August 28, 2003
Mary's
work deals with nature and has a recurrent theme of bringing "inside
out" and "outside in". In this case her piece
consists of several wood posts like the markers seen in state
parks. Each
post has an image of a persons face on the front, and a solar panel on
the top. The solar panel operates a circuit that reproduces the
sound
of the depicted person whistling a bird sound. The sound is
triggered
by a shadow falling on the post. |
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The
circuit that I designed is attached to a cell phone battery that powers
the circuit for brief periods while the solar panel is shaded. The speaker and shadow sensing photo cell are wired directly to this simple circuit. Red and black wires connect to the solar panel. |
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I built a special chip recorder so that Mary
could record the sound chips herself.![]() |
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Mary began the project by sending me a concept drawing for the post, and a site concept rendering for the original installation site in the Sierra mountains of California |
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I
recommended that the posts be made of white oak which is sturdy and
withstands weather quite well. I made the first 2 posts for her as
hollow boxes with a shelf inside for the electronics, and holes for the
speaker and light sensor. A local wood worker made the rest for her. |