COLOR TALKS by educamarena from spain

“Synesthesia is a neurological phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway”

WHAT: COLOR TALKS it’s an inviting experience for the visitors, to discover the color of your own voice, or others, or the combination of them. The project consists of an L shaped “totem” surrounded by a group of microphones facing it. They are all connected to a computer (or similar device such a micro controller) inside the totem that is running the COLOR TALKS app. This program translates voices into colors by assigning a specific color wavelength to each voice frequency the microphone detects. It will relate the lowest wavelength, 400 nM (ultraviolet boundary) to the lowest frequency 50Hz, and the highest wavelength 750Nm (infrared boundary), to the highest frequency 300Hz. All intermediate values would be assigned proportionally.

The resulting color data is sent from the computer inside the totem to its inner skin, where different LED lights glow these colors. These LEDs are set behind a translucent glass fiber skin that diffuses the light.

EXPERIENCE: as people feel intrigued by this group of microphones around a soft shape that reminds of the LEXUS “L”, they find out that their voices are lighting it up, and that each person creates a different color tone. Generally speaking people like to be discovered and to be told about themselves, and COLOR TALKS GIVES AN ABSTRACT RESPONSE TARGETED TO YOUR SENSES. As more individuals approach and try the experience, the “totem” starts glowing the different colors and mixing them. At this point, this personal experience turns into a social one that becomes public when a crowd speak at the same time or intimate when is just two people sharing their voices.

CONSTRUCTION: I estimate that a 70% of the budget would go to the physical development of the proposal and the 30% left, to the development of the app, as I checked the state of the art and there exist plenty of similar apps for Android and OS operative systems. The physical totem consists of a glass-fiber shape or similar appearance material, either plastic or glass (such as frosted glass, although it would sensibly increase the weight). It contains a second interior LED skin fixed to it. This skin is connected to the computer at the bottom of the case, that is also connected to the microphones at the outside. As a matter of perception, a wire connection is offered so people visually relate the microphones to the totem in an easy way.

***note: in order to keep all my submission confidential until the results are public, as specified in the competition rules, I uploaded my video as a "private video" in VIMEO. In order to watch it, please use the password "colortalks"