ARTIST: Michele Boland
TITLE: The Zundelphone
MATERIALS: Assorted found objects, discarded PC parts
DIMENSIONS: 25" w x 25" h x 5.5" d
DATE: 2005

DESCRIPTION
The Zundelphone is an interactive musical device that uses simple iconography to encourage viewer interaction in creating a unique piece of "music". The Zundelphone consists of a main console with several simple button controls, some lighted icon-styled indicators and a microphone. By lighting different icons, the piece will attempt to solicit specific viewer actions such as speaking into the microphone in a particular manner, thus selecting a tempo or style of music. The Zundelphone will then perform the unique piece. The music is played through separate speakers and sound transducers that use pieces salvaged items for tonal shaping. While the music is played, a unique light display is created using iconic indicators on the icon display which will animate the unique experience. The actual music created by the Zundelphone includes familiar elements of modern western music while incorporating non-traditional tonal and temporal qualities created by the viewers own voices or noises.

STATEMENT
The daughter of an electrical engineer, Michele grew up surrounded by electronics and technology. Encouraged to experiment and discover, Michele spent much of her teen years learning the basics of electronic theory. After studying music for several years in college, Michele's natural attraction to computers prompted her to change her focus and study mathematics and computer science. Michele continues to experiment and explore applications of electronics in unusual ways, leveraging her professional background in software engineering and computer systems development to aid her artistic visions. Her current focus is development of unusual electronic works that use time as the key element for the viewer experience.

CONTACT
Michele Boland
Seattle, WA
michele.boland AT comcast.net