Audio graffiti – leaving invisible messages of our social history across the city.
Purpose
Allow anyone to leave an audio message or music in a very localised area, for anyone else to discover.
Object
An embeddable solar-powered device that can be left in anything: walls, street lights, tombstones… (based on the Binary Dust object)
It contains a small local (legal) FM transmitter with a very limited (10-meter) range, and some digital storage. It constantly transmits whatever it contains.
Function
Anyone can “post” a message to it from their mobile phone (but only if they are within range) – uploading their own content, leaving a memory, a message, a fact, or an idea.
Anyone may encounter it (ideally by chance) by tuning a radio into the right frequency – the most accessible form of access (even most mobile phones also have FM receivers).
Audio graffiti is around the next street corner, in the park, somewhere close.
Plan
We aim to embed music and audio in selected public locations.
You may encounter it in some places by tuning your radio into the right frequency (remember your mobile phone probably has a built-in radio when you use it with your hands-free headphones) … audio graffiti is around the next street corner, in the park, somewhere close.
These embedded devices will (eventually) be solar-powered, contain a small local transmitter and be accessible from your mobile. We’re also working on a version where, if you find a transmitter, you can upload your own audio to it for others to listen to – leave your music, comments, and messages for the next person to discover.
Please let us know if you are interested in working with this idea.
This work is retroactively licensed under a Creative Commons License (the concept was developed in 1999).