Concept:
L.E. Fish (Light Emitting Fish) is an interactive art piece, designed to convey a narrative about the impacts of plastic and other human made pollutants in the ocean. Human activity has had drastic negative impacts on environmental systems, some of which may be quite unexpected.
Jellyfish which have no brain, spine, eyes or blood are made up primarily of water, so they require very little energy to maintain bodily functions and are highly efficient organisms with an amazing capacity to reproduce quickly and thrive in environments where other animals struggle to subsist. They are well equipped to handle the stress of hypoxic and highly acidic waters which push out other species. Hypoxia, or low oxygen conditions in the ocean create inhospitable environments for most marine animals. These conditions result from the runoff of chemical fertilizers into waterways as a result of the global agricultural industry. Other pollutants in the ocean lower pH levels creating acidic waters that deplete marine species and open up niches in which jelly fish thrive. As a result, there has been a recent spike in jellyfish populations worldwide. They are appearing in great numbers in regions of the world that they have not typically occupied. Reports of jellyfish stings have increased exponentially, forcing the closures of popular tourist spots and impacting local economies.
For these reasons we decided to use the jellyfish as the face of our campaign against the impacts of human activity on marine ecosystems. Our goal was to reuse waste plastic to construct L.E. Fish and wire it with LED lights. These lights as well as an audio component are controlled through human interaction with a sound mixing board. The mixer is representative of the very prevalent human control of marine environments. It takes human input to control four variables. RGB and strobe send number variables to the computer, wherein a code converts the input into variables to control color and strobe values. These values are then sent via Bluetooth to an Arduino board that is connected to the LED’s within the structure of L.E. Fish. Audio files of marine animal sounds are read by MAX midi and are output on a speaker.
The Code:
In the initial phase of development, one member of our group wrote a code using Max 8 software that took midi information from sliders on a sound mixer and converted into variables to control the color and strobe of lights, as well as the decibel levels of our audio component. We did run into some issues with the code and it remains to need some ironing out. We were unable to get the level of control over the manipulation that we had intended for. Ideally one slider on the mixer would control RGB output, while another would control, and another would control audio output. As we continue to develop this piece one thing we would want to do is massage out these issues with the code. Overall for the prototype however we were pleased that we were able to create a system that could manipulated via the sound mixer.
During another phase of development, we considered using a code written in processing, that reacted to audio input. In this version of the code a person would interact with the piece by making noise and the lights and sound would react differently depending on the decibel levels that were recorded. We did not however end up using this version of the code.
Construction of the L.E.Fish (Written by Ashley Kneemueller)
The structure of the piece consists of the ‘head’ of the jellyfish which is made out carboard and two plastic cups. We choose to make the physical structure of the L.E.Fish out of waste materials, specifically plastic and cardboard, because plastic is contributing to jellyfish blooms. Animals that eat jellyfish are eating plastic bags then dying, and the toxins released from breaking down plastics are causing acidic environments that only jellyfish can survive in. These factors are leading to growing jellyfish populations, so as a result we decided to make the jellyfish from primarily plastic bags because plastic is a cause of the problem, and plastic bags look like jellyfish to turtles and seals.
From this support hangs the tentacles of the jellyfish, made from long cut out from plastic bags. The LEDs will be inside the thicker plastic tentacles which are hollow and hang from the center, much like the structure of a real jelly fish. The LEDs are threaded through the tentacles and around the top, and a final plastic bag cover the head to give a bag like appearance and look more aesthetically pleasing.
Inside the plastic cups at the top is the Arduino which is connected to the LEDs, a power source for LEDs, and a connection from the Arduino to the computer with the code.
There is a cardboard base from which the plastic cups are stacked in the middle to give height and stability. Strips of cardboard reach from the plastic cups to the edges of the cardboard, and the empty space is filled with plastic bags for consistent color and enforcement. A diagram below shows two perspectives of the cups, cardboard, and plastic bag filling. The red is the cups, the blue is the plastic bags, and the black is the cardboard base and support beams.
Audio:
For the audio component of this piece we wanted to juxtapose the sounds of marine animals with those of the encroaching plastics in the ocean. In order to do this, we used a Zune recorder to capture audio of plastic bags rustling around, in an acoustic environment. To create the audio, we used two different kinds of plastic shopping bags, some of the most prevalent waste materials found in the ocean. One of the plastics we used was softer and the other had a very crunchy sound. We felt that the crunchier plastic sound, was somewhat reminiscent of the sound of a stinging jelly fish, adding another layer of meaning to the track. These bags were then rustled using our hands and also submerged in a sink filled with water to mimic the sound that these materials might make in a marine environment. This audio was then mixed and looped using Audacity audio software. We then used audio files of sea animals and other ocean noises to play in concert with the plastic noises. There are a total of four tracks which we mixed for the final piece. The first track consists of the rustling plastic. There are two tracks of marine animals, with the first one being animals under the ocean including whales and seals and the other being animals above sea, such as gulls and other sea going birds. The fourth track is of a submarine type of vehicle, another element of human interaction with the ocean, as submarines tend to disrupt natural patterns of movement for animals that use echo location. In order to more explicitly communicate LE fish’s message, we made the plastic noises overpower the ocean noises, by increasing the decibels of that track, over the others. The mixer will control not only the LEDs, but also the volume of the audio component, as well as which tracks are playing at any given time.
AUDIO SOURCES:
Seal Call Zoo Sound by Mike Koenig is licensed under Attribution 3.0 http://soundbible.com/142-Seal-Call-Zoo.html
Flock Seagulls by Daniel Simion is licensed under Attribution 3.0 http://soundbible.com/2193-Flock-Seagulls.html
Waterphone by Daniel Simion is licensed under Attribution 3.0 http://soundbible.com/2173-Waterphone.html
Crisp Ocean Waves by Mike Koenig is licensed under Attribution 3.0 http://soundbible.com/1936-Crisp-Ocean-Waves.html
Osprey Call by Tony Phillips is licensed under Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unportedhttp://soundbible.com/1241-Osprey-Call.html
Male Common Tern Calls by Tony Phillips is licensed under Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported http://soundbible.com/1224-Male-Common-Tern-Calls.html
Orca by nps is licensed under Public Domain http://soundbible.com/865-Orca.html
Whale Song by nps https://www.nps.gov/glba/learn/nature/soundclips.htm
Geri Evilla 