Dude in Berlin dresses in surround sound

BenoƮt Maubrey is a Berlin-based, Washington DC born artist who makes 'Audio Clothes'. Here is his, wearing his 'Audio Peacock': "These wearable electronic instruments are constructed from polycarbonat plexigalss material shaped into a peacock's fan-like plumage. The plexiglass surface is equipped with 16 loudspeakers (150 watts power), amplifiers, and rechargeable 12 volt batteries. The "audio-plumage" is highly directional and functions like an electroacoustic radar dish -- esthetically it has much in common with the way a peacock parades itself in front of the pea-hen (the audience). An Audio Peacock can either amplify its own electronic instrument and voice or receive sounds from outside sources via transmitter/receiver and disseminate them in a space by orienting his high-tech "plumage". Four Audio Peacock units can be acoustically choreographed as a mobile quadrophonic loudspeaker system." (Thanks, FMass)


Comments:
people go to Berlin to do stuff like that,and that's why i love that place.
 
Two thoughts:

1) From the back, that probably looks like a giant testicle on legs.

2) I think I'd enjoy having and using one, EXCEPT the lack of peripheral vision. Somebody could run up from behind and tip you over.
 
Looks like the cones they put on dogs and cats so they won't lick themselves... with speakers.
 
Aside from the audio plumage, it seems like the rest of the site is "Speakers sewn on suit", "Speakers sewn on Jacket", "Speakers sewn on speakers".

I was trying to keep an open mind until I hit the "Videos" section and heard what was produced by these "Audio Clothes"... Can I go back to the guy from Muse squeezing cats?

Same for the Video Peacock, seems like a nifty idea, but the video is some guy pitch shifting what sounds like "Arf, Arf, Arf" over blurry video.

Perhaps someone will find a way to use this to make something great one day, but if you invent the Typewriter and then just type meaningless gibberish on it, people will stick with the old pens they wrote Shakespeare with.

Also, 16 speakers and 150 watts... Is that something you really want to be in the middle of? I happen to enjoy hearing. (Lets hope that isn't 150 watts Class A.)

I don't know, maybe I'm just an incurable luddite, but sewing some speakers to an old suit isn't much more avant garde than Danelectro sewing one into a gig bag. Frankly, were I ever to get caught up in one of the "art" installations, I'd be trying to get away from the cacophony....
 
Check out the audio ballerinas
 
I've been a fan of this guy's ideas for a while. He's really nice if you write him, and sometimes he sends out promo materials for new projects.

I agree, some of his ideas are in the "attach a speaker to something and call it art" category, but there are some good, funny ideas in there. Like the "Feedback Fred" character, wearing a suit that amplifies everything he says through a hideous amp strapped to his stomach, so that every attempt to communicate with someone results in overbearing squaly noise.

The Audio Geisha project is nice also. And the video of a dancer with a photocell-controlled sampler freaking out underneath a single spotlight.

He's definitely a conceptual artist and not a musician, but he gets my cool vote.
 
Indeed! What a wanker
 
I've seen his performances and lectures. There is depth in neither his conceptual thinking nor his technical pursuit. His aesthetic is tired and poorly developed as he adopts a tongue-in-cheek stance of slick, cool, technological dehumanization that feels out dated. He's a nice guy, but not much of an artist or technician, and he's been performing the same limited pieces for years.
 
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