About

What is the Inner Ear?

The Inner Ear is a porcelain portable device that participants can use to capture and represent vibrations.

How Does the Inner Ear work?

First, participants can collect a series of vibration captures (15 minutes each) over about a week with the Inner Ear porcelain device. Second, they select one vibration capture to be materialized. Then, our team generates and 3D prints the data in porcelain. We glue the newly printed data rings to the central module and give it back to participants.

Why is it called the Inner Ear?

We named this project the Inner Ear for the poetic quality of the term as well as the human biology reference. The Inner Ear refers to an ability to listen, to gain (or lose) balance, to be attuned to a space and to the presence of other bodies (animate and inanimate) in that space. Listening, as it relates to audible subsets of sound to the human ear, may be expanded to encompass a broader set of sonic vibrations, which typically go unregistered by the human ear.

Why does the Inner Ear change states (from capture to representation of data)?

To offer an alternative to other data sensing devices in domestic environments, we purposefully created an artifact that explicitly showcased what state or mode it was in: sensing or representing. First, in the data capturing state it is a smart listening device that records environmental vibrations. Second, in the data representation state, it becomes a sculptural object, an archive of the data event recorded.

What are examples of vibrations?

It is possible to capture a range of vibrations with the Inner Ear. Over the course of the project, we saw vibrations such as the rain on the skylight, kids getting ready in the morning, late night conversations with friends, putting dishes away, the soundscape of making a floral arrangement, a pet cat’s constant movement. You can hear the participants say more about the vibrations they captured on their story pages.

How is the Inner Ear made?

The central module is a slip casted porcelain piece, augmented with simple electronics (Arduino, mic, led light, SD cardholder) to capture vibrations. The data rings are 3D printed porcelain that are fired and then glued to the central module. There is more information about the making process on this page.

Why is the Inner Ear made from porcelain?

We chose to work with clay for its long-standing object history within the domestic sphere, as well as for its haptic quality. We wanted to rethink not only the physical representation of data, but also the material form of sensors and sensing devices in a home environment.

How was the vibration data transformed into porcelain rings?

The vibration data is downloaded from the SD card and prepared to be imported in our algorithm (in Grasshopper and Rhino). The ripples on these rings are generated using a differential growth algorithm directed by the vibration data.

Why are there two rings?

The smaller ring represents an overview of the vibration capture selected by a household, while the larger ring zooms in on an event (a few seconds) within that capture. The event was selected by the participant(s) with the purpose of exploring more deeply the vibrational portrait of a certain moment. There is a granularity to the recorded data which made us wonder about the texture effect at various magnifications of the data.We hoped to provoke reflection about the interpretative process of choosing, preparing, and materializing data

Who are the people who lived with the Inner Ear?

We recruited people in the Seattle, Washington area who were interested in exploring their home environment through vibrations. We looked for people who already had some interest in vibrations as well as art-oriented projects. In total, we worked with seven people in six households. Some lived alone, others with their families or roommates. Some had lived in their homes for a long time, others just moved in during the project. They were in their 20s and up to their 70s.

How did it feel for people to experience the Inner Ear?

Every participant had different experiences with the Inner Ear. Some used it to discover or rediscover their space, while others engaged with deep reflections about their relation to data, agency, and consent. You can watch our short video documentaries reporting on the participants’ experiences here.

Where are the Inner Ears now?

The Inner Ears, in their final states, were a gift to the participants, who are still living with them today. As of now, we know that one Inner Ear was painted, one fell on the ground and broke beyond repair, one is waiting in a studio while a home gets renovated…

How was this project funded?

This project is funded by a National Science Foundation grant (NSF #1947696). This grant, titled “Exploring IoT Data Transparency in the Home through Creative Data Representations” proposes to use creative ways to represent home data to help people understand their own data better. The grant covers the Data Epics project, which uses fiction as a creative medium, and the Inner Ear project, which uses 3D printed ceramics to represent home data.

Who was involved in designing and making the Inner Ear?

This project is a collaboration between design researcher Audrey Desjardins at Studio Tilt (a design research studio) and artist Timea Tihanyi at Slip Rabbit Studio (a technoceramics research studio). We both are also faculty members at the School of Art + Art History + Design at the University of Washington in Seattle, USA.

The project involved many art, design, and engineering students and collaborators from the University of Washington.

Initial design, development and prototyping:
Arthur Derksen — Art
Bailey A. Heller — Art
Miguel Monserate — Human Centered Design and Engineering
Rishabh Patni — Human Centered Design and Engineering
Yuna Shin — Interaction Design
Blair Subbaraman — Human Centered Design and Engineering
Aichen Sun —Human Centered Design and Engineering,
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Deployment, documentary filmmaking, and website design:
Freesoul El Shabazz-Thompson — Art
Wyatt Olson — Interaction Design
Jonnie Narita — Interaction Design
Julia Saimo — Visual Communication Design
Ocean Vu — Interaction Design
Melanie Wells — Interaction Design
Bill Xiong — Interaction Design
Janey Yee — Interaction Design
Brock Craft — Human Centered Design and Engineering

Photography and visual design:
Julia Saimo — Visual Communication Design

Filming and video editing:
Wyatt Olson — Interaction Design
Julia Saimo — Visual Communication Design

Website development:
Wyatt Olson — Interaction Design

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