Electronic Samuel Jackson
One of the first projects built at the CIF was a talking bust of the actor Samuel Jackson, commissioned by the NBA Star, US Olympic MVP and Ohio State University graduate Michael Redd. Mr. Redd has a movie theater in his home, and wanted guests to pass a bust of Samuel Jackson inside a ticket booth as they entered the theater. As they passed him, he wanted him to say lines from his movies. Who wouldn’t?
A number of artists collaborated on this projcted: separate artists constructed the mannequin and the wooden “ticket booth”; the CIF built the electronics and programming that gave voice to the exhibit. As guests walked past the ticket booth, a sonar detector determined how close they were, and triggered an arduino embedded control board to play audio files stored on an open-source MP3 player. Additionally, curious guests could simply stand in front of the bust and press a small brass doorbell to cycle through his lines. Lots of fun, and we look forward to instrumenting our shop with similar interactive audio exhibits.
