Description
"Microphones" is an interactive installation featuring one or several 1939-vintage Shure microphones, placed on mic stands around the exhibition room at different heights. Each microphone has been modified so that inside its head is a tiny loudspeaker and a circuit board connected to a network of hidden control computers. When a public member speaks into a microphone, it records his or her voice and immediately plays back the voice of a previous participant, as an echo from the past.

The result is surprising because the sound comes directly from the microphone, which "speaks back", and because it is a memory of what already has been said. People initially only say something short like "hello" or "I am the decider" but as they realize that the resulting echo is actually recordings from previous participants they start giving longer speeches, they sing, or the play "exquisite corpse". Half the time the microphones play back the voice that was just recorded, while the other half they reproduce a recording at random from up to 600,000 that each microphone can store. This distribution allows the participant to understand the interaction but it also creates an experience that is out of his or her control. Ultimately, the piece's content is entirely generated by the participation of the public.

Year of creation
2008
Technique
Modified vintage microphones, electronics, computers and loud speakers
Dimensions
Variable, each microphone head measures 11x8x8 cm

Exhibitions
• "Recorders" (curator: Sabine Himmelsbach), Edith Russ Haus für Medienkunst, Oldenburg, Germany, 2008.
• "Rafael Lozano-Hemmer", Haunch of Venison, London, UK, 2008.
• "LOOP'08" Galerie Guy Bärtschi, Catalonia Ramblas Hotel, Barcelona, Spain, 2008.
• "The Art of Participation: 1950 to now" (curator: Rudolf Frieling), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California, USA, 2008. (version of 20)
• "Maquinas y Almas - Souls and Machines" (curator: Montxo Algora and Jose Luis de Vicente), Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain, 2008. (version of 20)

Photos
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Gideon May — programming
Pierre Fournier, Stephan Schulz, Olfa Driss — production support