Public figures have long used entertainment to both connect with their intended audiences and broaden this base appeal to include others. Political leaders and actors alike, rely on their charisma to assert their influence within the larger social discourse.

Wild things explores verbal communication and how public figures in the entertainment industry and in politics relate through contrasting a visualization of the audio frequencies produced by speech of distinct individuals. The piece consists of two simultaneous readings of Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are” by both Barack Obama and Christopher Walken. Two strands of thin flexible plastic filament simultaneously respond to the audio emitted by the readings of each of these orations. Tiny red and green cylinders shift back and fourth with the vibrations and respond to audio frequency variations, moving across the projection of an illuminated transparency that displays a split image of these two figures.

As a kinetic installation, the work uses sound to comment on the role of entertainer that is tacitly enmeshed as the performative elements of both professional practices— actor and politician. These performances exemplify how each figure capitalizes on their public notoriety as a means to augment their social relevance.

AD 456 - Physical Computing, Prof. Daniel Sauter

Wild Things (Originally Widescreen) [ movie clip, 640 x 480 px, 18.07 MB ]