Madre

An interactive instalation with a kinetic sculpture and a 360 sound design.

MADRE - Interactive Sculpture
Wood, Motors, Sensors, Processing, Electronic Circuit, Silicon Leafs
New York - 2016

Madre is a project made to create a communion space
to meet and share with other people that also see Nature as a deity

This project intends to create a space for people with the same beliefs and spiritual practices to meet and start developing a community. Specifically its made for people that have a spiritual life considering The Universe and the natural elements of the world as sacred, powerful or just beautiful. This is a growing trend now a days and I feel its important to support this because with these beliefs humanity could go back to consider Nature as our source of life and respect it like our ancestors did.

The inspiration for this project comes from my own relationship with Nature developed when I was a kid and from what I have learned and admired about the connection our ancestors had with Mother Earth.

Below you can watch my Thesis Presentation

"With this project I want to share the idea of how much your
spirituality can grow if you notice how magical and powerful Nature is..."

"...The Sun, The Moon, The Mountains and The Plants seem pretty sacred to me..."

"Praying to the universe has become pretty popular now a days...
there is a new wave of an unnamed religion or a new age unreligion "

"...this thesis is for them, it is made for me,
a person that beliefs that Nature is my god,
after all it is all around us and is the creator of all life... "

Interaction

The installation uses digital sensors embedded within the seats that activate the mechanical tree and the sound design.

Fabrication

The movement of the branches of the tree was designed with a four-linkage bar mechanism and they move with high torque motors. I tested a lot of different materials to get the texture and transparency I was looking for the leafs so they can absorb the color of the light projected on them. For the audio design, a sound engineer and musician friend, Nicolas Dávila, went to the Ecuadorian Amazon to capture real and original sounds so that the installation can have a more unique sound design.

Technology

- Arduino

- Processing

- Digital Sensors

- Motors