Chihim Chik - Sound & Interaction design
Sangbong Lee - Hardware design & programming

Liquid Prism is a laboratory-like instrument that measures the subtle nuances of the liquid in several test tubes and its movements and changes due to chemical interactions with aspirin and other substances. The reactions, including bubbles, that occur during the melting process are converted into audio-visual data by an integrated laser beam and piezo sensors and can thus be experienced.

We are only seeing a part of the surroundings we live through. This experienced world is composed not only of ourselves but also of the unnoticed beings that surround us. Machines cover our living spaces and communicate with each other, yet we don't perceive their existence since machines are concealed, and use different language from ours. Therefore, we consider them not worthy to pay attention until they are not working properly. This apathy makes us difficult to draw the whole picture of the moment we are experiencing.

The work is inspired by the attitudes and practices of alchemists in the pre-scientific era. When we first encounter matter in its true form, without the proper analytical tools, what we feel is chaos or even noise. Just as alchemists of the past interpreted the chaotic and mysterious changes of matter in the realm of subjective experience rather than science, this work reinterprets the chemical reactions that occur when matter dissolves into a soundscape through the phenomena of light and vibration.

Specification

Size:
31(width) X 18(depth) X 18(height) CM

Materials:
Brass, Acrylic plate, PLA, 5mW laser diode, Piezo sensors, Test tubes, Microcontrollers, Custom electronics, Wireless transmitter

Software:
Arduino, C Language, Max/MSP

Exhibition:
Water paths
(24. May. 2024, Dauerwelle, Bremen)

Photographed by Jimmy Liu, Hsu HsunHsiang
Video recorded by Gabriela Valdespino, Alethia Pinzon Rodriguez
Video edited by Chihim Chik