Condizione Umana is an interactive installation designed with Valentina Peter (a.k.a. Effemeride), an Italian artist that works with books and papers. The artwork wants to be a reflection on the human condition (condizione umana in Italian). We used an Italian book of 1920 and a pair of windows from a house in Turin from the same era.
We selected 8 pages from the book and extracted 8 sentences that represent a human condition. Each sentence has been converted in speech, using a female and a male voices. Each sound sample has been divided in sub-samples and stored in a Rasperry Pi computer. Usign a custom software, the computer select a page from the book and read a random phrase from the collection of samples. The result is a endless dialogue between woman and man. When the computer selects a page it also turns on a LED, located under the page to give a visual feedback to the visitors. The interaction part is made using a PIR motion sensor that turns on the computer algorithm when a visitor approaches the installation.
The source code of the custom software is available here.
Materials: Paper, wood, Rasperry Pi computer, custom software, LED, PIR motion sensor, sound speakers.
