Microproject 4

The Water's Perspective of the Bathroom

   We all use the bathroom multiple times each day.  We often think of the bathroom as a quiet, private place where we can simply "do our business."  However, the bathroom is a very quiet place until we enter it.  We then turn on the vent, flush the toilet, wash and dry our hands, etc.  I originally had no intention on doing my project in the bathroom but while I was "doing my business," I realized just how much unique sounds fill the space.
  I want this video to inspire a variety of emotions.  The image itself is simply a camera underneath the sink with water pouring on it.  Nearly all sounds have to do with water when one is in the bathroom.  Therefore, I want the person to have the peaceful emotion of moving water, but hearing the often uncomfortable sounds of the bathroom in the background.  I intentionally made the beginning quite boring with the sound of the vent.  This is all one hears while taking a shit, however it is a powerful and unique sound which we often drown out.  Many of us seem to feel uncomfortable when we hear bathroom sounds outside of the actual room.  This is the point.  The sounds are so distinguishable, but we rarely or never hear them outside the space of the bathroom.
  Then the other sounds are quite distinguishable but I used technology to add the sounds together and create the many sounds on top of each other.  This is because the water has many different paths it may take, and I want to make sure the person viewing the art fully understands that.  The water may end up down the toilet, it may come out of the sink, or it may even end up on the towel.  By placing the sounds together, it uses hearing to track the water's progress in the bathroom.  This was a nice surprise to see the artwork come out the way it did, but most of this was an intentional process.
  The most satisfying part of this project is the fact I successfully manipulated sound.  I have never been a music performer and could never play an instrument.  Therefore, this project was very difficult for me but I was satisfied that a nice piece of artwork was created from such a disgusting place.
   There were many times where I just hated this project.  I am a very visual person and I often have a difficult time picking out sounds.  This project challenged me to change my perspective on sound and learn how to capture it and manipulate it to form artwork.  While this was my most difficult project yet, I am happy with the way it turned out.