the sonicolumn by jin yo mok

a long time ago i thought of an installation piece that would be responsive to the passage of a person through it. the movement of the person would result in colours and sounds that responded to that person’s presence, perhaps even be sensitive to mood. i’m thinking now, that if i were able to meld the “plob” of karim rashid (see my blog entry back in february) with this clever installation piece by jin yo mok then i’d be on my way to fulfilling that ambition.

the sonicolumn, as it is called, is a simple and lovely piece comprised of grids of leds installed inside a column that light themselves when triggered by the users’ touch and which emit tiny bell-like sounds.


when the user cranks the handle . . .

the column slowly rotates itself on a geared base . . .

and plays the light and sound patterns of the user’s touch.

it would be interesting to have a smaller version of this same thing in your home but with programmable sounds - water, wind, chimes, birdsong, voices, the possibilities are endless. in this way you could create a “soundtrack” for your home that would reflect your mood, your need, even your creative urge.

a short film of the sonicolumn playing or being played can be viewed here and you can visit the sonicolumn website here.