Post Post installation is an interactive project in which the public can play music and light up the entire historic postal building in Jerusalem.
Post Post installation by Yuvi Gerstein & Shuli Oded
How did it come about?
I had this idea for a long time, of physical objects, which could be used to produce music.
I teamed up with Shuli Oded, a creative mind who works with sound and lighting for the past twenty years or so. We developed the idea of objects, that will react to tapping/drumming by the public and Shuli suggested
we visit his friend who has dismounted approximately 200 mailboxes around Israel, as part of the postal service changes. I guess people don’t use those boxes as much as they used to.
We chose five mailboxes and painted them in different colors. Next, we used a special sensor called Mogees, made by a company called mogees in the UK. The sensor can detect the people’s taps on the mailbox and translate them into a midi output, which I used
in order to turn the tapping into music. Oded was in charge of the light element and together we decided to use the midi notes we received from the mogees as inputs for a lighting system that will light up the building in real time.
Construction and programming
We worked with team and installed LED spotlights and strips on the postal building. This took a few full days of work. In the lower part of the building there are five beautiful arches. We used LEDs strips to light them up.
I programmed the mogees sensors inside the mailboxes to give me a midi note for each tap. Each mailbox produced a midi note, which I used in an Ableton Live instrument rack. The midi notes trigger sounds in various scales, which I chose in advance, but the actual notes being produced change randomly, so it becomes more musically compelling. The midi notes coming from the sensors are then sent to a second computer, in charge of the DMX lighting system. The midi notes are sent to the lights on the building using a wireless DMX transmitter.
Results
The opening night was scheduled for the “Jerusalem light festival 2016”, taking place all around the old city of Jerusalem and outside in the center of the modern city as well. The responses of the public were of curiosity at the beginning and then joy when they realized they can actually control the music and the lights on the entire building. That feeling of control of the building is something very powerful, especially for people who just happened to walk by and are not expecting this type of control.
The Future
Our goal is to install this project in many cities around the world and allow people all over the world to “play buildings” and enjoy their urban surroundings, as if it were a playground.
Project credits
Created by Yuvi Gerstein & Shuli Oded
Light programming – Ofer Brum
Additional programming – Ronen Peri
Lights and electricity – Ashraf Kawasmi
Video and editing – Dan Balilty
With many thanks to
EDEN the Jerusalem center development company
The Jerusalem municipality
Post authority of Israel
The post hostel Jerusalem for their great support
Eshed Ohana – Greenstorage.co.il
Mogees.co.uk for the amazing product
Ido Levit – EDEN company
Dani Aharoni – Lightone.com
Eli Levy – Beit Shmuel
Jerusalem Light Festival 2016
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