21 Swings

source: awardsixdaorg
21 Balancoires (21 Swings) is an urban scale collective instrument, a game where together we achieve better things than separately. The installation consists of a series of 21 musical swings. When in motion, each swing triggers different notes. When used all together, the swings compose a musical piece in which certain melodies emerge only through cooperation. It’s a game where, from the start, you need to adjust to the actions of others.

The notes that are played are determined by how high a person swings. The color of the swing indicates the instrument it plays: piano, harp, guitar, vibraphone. The instruments are distributed differently within each set of three swings to create different musical configurations.

When multiple swings move in synchronicity, a mini scale is played, revealing more notes and melodies. When all swings are in use, a secret musical mode is activated to give a special reward to players a synthesizer sound plays on all swings and transforms the experience.

The result is a giant collective instrument that stimulates ownership of the space, bringing together people of all ages and backgrounds, and creating a place for playing and exchanging in the middle of the city center.

Context

In Montreal’s entertainment district, the Promenade des Artistes (the Artists’ Promenade), a narrow 170m long piece of land had been closed for several years, separating two worlds a major music venue complex and a renowned science faculty. Our objective was to foster new visit rituals to this abandoned piece of land. We wanted to create a playful interaction that would function day and night, cater to local audiences, both art and science worlds, as well as to the general public. The music complex inspired us to open up the magic of making music to those who pass by the promenade, and we worked with scientists to ensure the project’s relevance to a scientific community. Together with Luc-Alain Giraldeau, an animal behavior specialist from Universite du Quebec Montreal, we developed this collective musical instrument that stimulates and rewards cooperative behaviors. Cooperation does not come from an individual’s decision. Instead, it emerges from a particular social interaction where the behavior of each individual depends on the decisions of the rest of the group: it’s a game where, from the start, you need to adjust to the actions of others.

Impact

The swings were quickly adopted by Montrealers and transformed a transit space into a public place. This instinctive way of creating music using one’s entire body stimulates people to play, to experiment and leads people to become aware of each other’s experience, to converse and exchange.

Old people, young people, couples, punks, skateboarders all played on the swings.
Families from all over the city took over a set of swings for a long time, sometimes having a picnic.
Strangers engaged in conversation around the swings.
Passing drivers stopped and got out to see the swings.
Everyone who passed stopped and smiled for at least a moment.

A video of the 21 Swings project went viral on the Internet in September 2012 receiving over 246,000 views and was covered in numerous international publications. Viewers from all over the world were moved by the inventive, playful nature of the installation and how it transforms the urban environment.

The swings have become Montreal’s favourite springtime ritual, part of the city’s DNA and are slated to reappear every year. But most importantly, the project gives people a sense of ownership of the public space they are everyone’s swings.

Craft

The swings interface was chosen because people are naturally attracted to them and immediately know what to do. Swings create a sense of nostalgia, throwing people back to their childhood. And the choreography of a line of colorful swings in constant motion, lit from underneath at night is eye catching from afar and creates a powerful invitation.

We worked with a composer to make an interactive piece that would enable anyone playing with the swings to make beautiful music. We found it particularly interesting to marry very familiar sounds, recordings of real instruments, with this high-tech installation. The sound quality was also chosen to fit harmoniously with the ambient noise of the urban environment, and the volume adjusts according to the time of day.

Each swing has a sensor inside that networks its position in real time to a central computer over a fiber optic data link. Custom software runs the system and allows for continuous monitoring of the installation. All the wiring, sensors and speakers are concealed from the public in order to maintain the dreaminess of the experience.
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source: lapresseca
L’installation 21 balançoires est de retour dans le Quartier des spectacles. L’oeuvre interactive et musicale permet aux passants de s’unir pour créer une mélodie unique. Derrière ce projet, maintes fois primé, se cachent deux artistes québécoises, Mouna Andraos et Melissa Mongiat. Les deux jeunes femmes viennent d’ailleurs de remporter le concours d’art public pour le nouveau Planétarium Rio Tinto Alcan. Avec l’ouverture d’un bureau à New York et un nouveau contrat au Minnesota, les deux Montréalaises se préparent tranquillement à prendre la planète d’assaut.

Pour la troisième année consécutive, les gens pourront se balancer sur la Promenade des artistes tout en composant une symphonie originale. L’installation 21 balançoires, d’une superficie de 30 000 pi2, est une création du studio Daily tous les jours, fondé par Mouna Andraos et Melissa Mongiat, en 2010.

Si la musique produite par ces balançoires est éphémère, l’installation ne l’est pas, ce qui oblige ses créatrices à poser un regard critique sur leur oeuvre chaque printemps. «Il y a des bons et des mauvais côtés à notre forme d’art, avoue Melissa Mongiat. On peut prendre un certain recul, une fois le projet démonté.»

«Oui, il est vrai qu’on remet en question l’installation chaque saison, mais on a aussi la chance de la peaufiner d’année en année, de l’améliorer. Nos oeuvres sont comme nous, elles évoluent», précise Mouna Andraos, titulaire d’une maîtrise en design interactif de l’Université de New York.

Les deux associées ont récemment remporté deux prix pour ce projet au concours international Interaction Awards, à Toronto. Et l’animatrice Oprah Winfrey a présenté les balançoires à ses téléspectateurs lors de l’émission Super Soul Sunday Show, le 10 mars dernier.

Les deux jeunes femmes sont déjà lauréates de la bourse Phyllis-Lambert Design Montréal et de plusieurs autres prix internationaux, dont un SXSW Web Award des États-Unis, un Cyber Lion de Cannes et un British Interactive Media Award. Les deux designers interactives sont les premières surprises par leur parcours. «Tout s’est passé très vite, mais, pour nous, les deux dernières années nous ont paru comme dix ans», souligne Melissa Mongiat, diplômée du réputé Saint Martin’s College de Londres.

Les installations de Melissa Mongiat et de Mouna Andraos permettent aux citoyens de s’approprier les espaces publics avec humour, intelligence et poésie. «Les balançoires, comme la plupart de nos projets, invitent les gens à prendre conscience de leur environnement, les encouragent à s’unir pour créer et à faire connaissance», expliquent les deux artistes, l’une finissant les phrases de l’autre.

Toutes ces notions seront aussi présentes dans leurs Chorégraphies pour humains et étoiles, leur nouvelle création qui sera aménagée à l’entrée du Planétarium Rio Tinto Alcan en 2014. Toujours en gestation, le projet permettra aux visiteurs de prendre la place des étoiles ou des planètes et d’en actionner le mouvement, en exécutant eux-mêmes des chorégraphies. Ce sera la première oeuvre numérique interactive installée en permanence à Montréal. Les deux associées travaillent, pour la première fois, avec l’hiver comme contrainte.

Une carrière internationale

Les deux conceptrices viennent d’ouvrir un petit bureau à New York. Loin d’être une nécessité pour l’instant, cette nouvelle adresse vise plutôt à accroître leurs contacts et à tâter le pouls des États-Unis, où elles ont déjà travaillé. «C’est un beau défi, New York, ajoute Mouna Andraos, et c’est une expérience de plus. Il faut penser aussi à élargir nos horizons.»

Melissa Mongiat et Mouna Andraos viennent d’ailleurs d’obtenir un contrat pour un projet dans une gare ferroviaire à Saint Paul, au Minnesota. Inspirées par les rencontres, les départs, les arrivées, et la longue tradition radiophonique de l’État américain, elles installeront des caméras qui capteront des événements quotidiens qui seront ensuite racontés sous forme d’histoires.

Malgré une carrière internationale, les deux jeunes visionnaires se font rassurantes: elles ne quitteront jamais la métropole. «On a ici une expertise incroyable et une longue tradition numérique. Et Montréal est bon pour nous», souligne Mouna Andraos.
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source: playgroundologywordpress
In Montreal a playful art installation invites passersby to kick back and let their toes touch the sky. For the third consecutive year 21 balançoires is sending waves of lightness through the downtown core’s entertainment district momentarily whisking away the urban noise and bustle. Listen carefully and you will hear a rising, falling arc of sweet music as players sail through the air on their bottom-lit swings.

PlayGroundology’s 2011 story on Montreal’s musical swings is one of the blog’s most visited posts. Hats off again to my Montreal buddy Moussa for giving me a shout about this wildly popular interactive art.

21 balançoires (3rd edition) – Promenade des Artistes, Montreal, Canada until June 2, 2013

This year 21 balançoires has caught the eye of France’s Biennale Internationale Design Sainte-Étienne (source – designboom) and Oprah who visited Montreal earlier this month.

When in motion, each swing in the series triggers different notes and, when used all together, the swings compose a musical piece in which certain melodies emerge only through cooperation. via Daily Tous les Jours

Creators Mouna Andraos and Melissa Mongiat have swing, swang, swung themselves into the hearts of Montrealers, the international design community and lovers of play everywhere.

The installation was awarded The Best in Show at February’s Interaction Awards in Toronto. Andraos and Mongiat have not been resting on their laurels though. After introducing the world to 21 balançoires, they created 21 obstacles. Most recently they’ve been awarded a commission for Montreal’s first permanent digital art installation at the city’s new planetarium.

This third edition of 21 balançoires features a photo contest so click off a few frames, you could be a winner.

I’m sure Andraos and Mongiat will be back with new crowd pleasers. I hope they will revisit the world of play with compelling, heart of the city projects that make the old young and the young younger still.
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source: mtlunescodesign
Working in the new media field, Mouna Andraos reinvents everyday technological experiences, thereby stimulating conversations and the imagination with regard to the impact and role these new technologies have in our world. Her work as Creative Director with the Montréal firm Bluesponge has earned her many awards, including a Best of Show at SXSW and a Cyberlion at Cannes. Under the Electronic Crafts label, she also creates electronic objects in limited series that take an entertaining, participative and sustainable approach to product development. An example is Power Cart, a mobile electrical station providing renewable energy to passersby.

Melissa Mongiat’s approach revolves around participation by the public. Her creations have included a series of interactive environments for Royal Festival Hall in London, for which Wallpaper* magazine selected her as one of the world’s 10 most promising designers. She also stands out for her research projects in participative design, with institutions such as Arup and Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London. Good Participation is the latest project under development and has already been presented at several international festivals and seminars.

Together, have created the collective Daily tous les jours. They are continually looking for new ways to interact and to tell stories. Their most recent projects are McLarena (Montréal), Conversation Wall (USA), 21 Swings (Montréal) and Choreographies for Humans and Stars (Montréal). They were in China in March 2014 to receive the Shenzhen Design Award for Young Talents for their 21 Swings interactive installation project.
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source: partizaningorg
Как-то наткнувшись на очередной проект несанкционированного размещения качелей, я подумал о том, что это сформированная тенденция, которая возникла вовсе не случайно, обретая свою актуальность за счет истинного запроса горожан. Встречайте первую коллекцию проектов из серии постов о том, чего не хватает городу.

Установка качелей в урбанистических пейзажах, а не на специально-отведенных игровых площадках уже становится общемировой тенденцией партизанских перепланировщиков. По всей видимости, не только из-за того, что это самый простой и эффективный игровой снаряд увеселения горожан, но и потому, что жителям часто не хватает той искренней радости и жизненной энергии, которую так часто можно наблюдать у резвящихся детей на площадках.

Так сложилось, что наиболее популярным местом размещения качелей являются остановки общественного транспорта, привлекающие активистов своим скучным видом и многолюдностью.

Есть множество различных вариаций подобных приятных дополнений на время ожидания своего автобуса или трамвая, но есть и более масштабные международные проекты, такие как, например, Red Swings, организатор которого предварительно сделав узнаваемым образ устанавливаемых им качелей, размещает их везде, где бы он ни был, а куда попасть не может, списывается с тамошними активистами для размещения. Эдакий качельный туризм.

Активисты из Сан-Франциско установили качели в поездах метро, таким образом, изрядно разнообразив поездку горожан, а немецкая студия Büro Wehberg ухитрилась создать из этого, кажущегося на первый взгляд, заурядного игрового снаряда, гигантский объект-аттракцион.

Эта аттрактивность прослеживается и в серии от дизайнеров Melissa Mongiat и Mouna Andraos, которые создали инсталляцию из 21 музыкальных качелей на одном из оживленных бульварах Монреаля.

В зависимости от объекта, на котором размещена качельная установка, ее функция и смысл может меняться, как, например, в проекте Swing от польской художницы Kamila Szejnoch. Эффектное фото и последствия разбирательств с полицией говорят о том, что качели могут стать художественным и даже политическим высказыванием. А наделение объекта долей развлекательности и переосмысление монумента за счет такого невинного дополнения, кажется, не всем по вкусу, и способна даже вызвать резонанс в обществе.

Такой ассортимент качельных проектов, пожалуй, объясняется своей привлекательностью и дефицитом развлечений в городе. Насыщение всевозможными бутиками и сервисами делает город не очень дружелюбным даже в ухоженных и стерильных городах Европы, но как видно из реакции горожан, людям всего лишь нужно почувствовать себя детьми, хоть и ненадолго. А для этого, как оказывается, вовсе и не нужно масштабных паблик-арт объектов, а вполне достаточно качелей или других мелких и приятных дополнений, о которых мы напишем чуть позже.