Hydrala

A multiplayer interactive theremin

Hydrala

A collaboration between sculptor Daniel Tran and Nicolas Sowers installed at Code:Art in 2021.

Nicolas Sowers and Daniel Tran were invited by Palo Alto to install a sculpture at City Hall for a three day Code:Art festival. We suspended a sculpture of HPDE tubing fitted with ultrasonic distance detectors and audio transducers between a grove of trees in MLK Plaza. Beneath the sculpture, the audience and players form a singular collective.

Proximity to the sculpture produces a shift in the pitch of musical notes played like a theremin.

close up view of the ultrasonic detectors

Working in the public realm and interacting with visitors to the sculpture gave us many insights into how we behave around sound. We observed a willingness to explore and discover. The form of the sculpture is ambiguous - is it a molecular structure or a representation of neurons? Visitors of all ages were curious about how the sculpture worked, and we participated in numerous discussions of sound and the environment.

a visitor engages and plays with the sculpture

Location: Palo Alto, CA
Photography: Jim Colton, Benny Villareal, Nicolas Sowers