A light year is the distance that light travels in a vacuum in a period of exactly 365.25 days. One of brightest stars in the night sky is called Sirius, about 8 light years from our solar system. What this means is that it takes about 8 years for light from Sirius to reach the Earth. That is, if one were to look at the star Sirius what one sees is what was there 8 years ago, not what is there now. The farther away we look in distance in space, the farther back we look in time. This, I believe, is one example of what Albert Einstein (with help from others) discovered to be relativity.
This wondrous, ponderous and relative nature of the universe (in this case, the stars) appropriately serves as some food for thought.
Learn more about the universe.
FTP Consultancy
Quite innovative, to say the least. You can find more of his works at the following sites:
www.kitundu.com
birdlightwind.blogspot.com
FTP Consultancy
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About Walter Kitundu:
Kitundu is a, sound/visual artist, graphic designer, composer and instrument builder. He uses an interdisciplinary approach to develop compositions-installations-instruments that blur the boundaries between media. He has constructed elemental turntables that rely on wood, water, fire and earthquakes for their power and pitch. Kitundu is the creator of a family of Phonoharps, beautifully crafted multi-stringed instruments made from record players. He strives to reconnect the technology of new music to fundamental principles drawn from the natural world.
Kitundu has an ongoing residency at the Exploratorium Museum of science, art and perception in San Francisco. He has recently been in residence at Eagle Rock School in Colorado, the Science Museum of Minnesota, and the Singapore Science Centre. Kitundu is also developing a Geologic Sound Casting project for volcanically active regions and was granted a five week artist residency at Skriduklaustur in Eastern Iceland in September 2004. He was raised in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
INSTRUMENTS
15 STRING NAUTILUS HARP
This Phonoharp was completed in December of 2001 - the 2nd harp to be built. The strings hover over wooden fingerboards, some of which are fretted, allowing multiple notes to be drawn from each string. It has a mellow, woody sound and was the first Phonoharp built from a direct drive turntable.
PHONOMBAU
The Phonombau was completed in May of 2002 - the 4th harp to be built. Each of the eleven vertical bars has a string on the outside surface. The instrument can be bowed from any direction and has a kalimba integrated in its design. All vibrations from the strings and kalimba are transfered into the record platter from which the needle amplifies the signal. There is also a small contact microphone to help round out the sound.
BLUE STEEL STRING 1200 PHONOHARP
This Phonoharp was completed in February of 2003 - the 6th harp. It was built using a Technics 1200 turntable, the industry standard for DJs. It is incredibly versatile and can sound like bass guitar, a lap steel guitar, a hammered dulcimer, a drumset, chimes... many sounds are unique to this instrument. There are many ways to play it. The built in mixer and cross-fader allows cutting and scratching with the turntable and there is even a headphone jack for cueing records. It has been the workhorse and has survived many journeys internationally. It has even been used to provide a live score for a full length theatrical piece.
LIGHT ACTIVATED PHONOSITAR
This is an instrument I'm developing through my residencies at the Exploratorium, in San Francisco, and the Singapore Science Centre. It has 4 principal strings and 23 sympathetic strings in 4 groups. The edge of the instrument houses embedded light sensors which control both the turntable and the sympathetic strings. Gesturing over the instrument will turn the record player on and off, forwards and backwards, and will strart small motors strumming the grouped strings to create different drones or chords, which can be played alone or in combination. It is an instrument which creates a sonic and visual language through its performance.
It incorporates small, programmable, battery powered controllers developed at MIT.
DOLLAR ART
BIRDS
