The Piano Staircase

“The Piano Staircase” by TheFunTheory.com

Year: 2009

Location: A subway station in Odenplan, Stockholm.

Thefuntheory.com is a company aims to “Fun can obviously change human behavior for the better”, so they can this “The Fun Theory”. They believe that the easiest way to change people’s behavior for the better is by making it fun to do. They try to use the most simply methods to make change of us. It is a good idea to create more fun and more beautiful life for the humans.

“The Piano Staircase” is an interactive musical installation. It lays the interaction black and tap keys that according to the piano keyboard basis at the subway stairs. Every key will create different notes of sound when you tap it by your foot. This installation aims to encourage the citizen taking the stairs rather than as little as possible to take the elevator when they are going to ride the MRT. This idea is combined with environmental friendly and human body healthy. According to a research for this installation, there are over 60% of people taking the stairs instead of taking the elevator after making this “Piano Staircase”.

Since 1991, there are already had similar concept of such installation in Japan, The IAMAS PDP (Programmable Device Project) designed the “Interactive Chronology” in ICC (Intercommunication Center). Every stair of this work had different annual figures such as 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, and so on. The ladder was not only produce the audio and sound. There will also be the audio commentary for an important event for the annual media arts development.

This is one of the multimedia installations. And the multimedia was already created many years ago. The technology is not too high when that time. But the scientists and artists still try to create more new things, and then they make the multimedia. Their purpose of building multimedia is to make convenience to the humans. Nowadays, multimedia might be defined as the digital integration of animation, audio, graphics text, that means some images and motion video in a way to provide users with high levels of control and interaction. And most of them become an entertainment for us.

« The historian, with a vast chronological account of a people, parallels it with a skip trail which stops only at the salient items, and can follow at any time contemporary trails which lead him all over civilization at a particular epoch. There is a new profession of trailblazers, those who find delight in the task of establishing useful trails through the enormous mass of the common record. The inheritance from the master becomes, not only his additions to the world’s record, but for his disciples the entire scaffolding by which they were erected. » Vannevar Bush (1945).

It is brilliant but how can they do these? Actually, they are using the devices called IST (Infrared/Sound/Touch) Technology. Users can operate a series of communication devices and software to capture the motion of human bodies by the IST devices. And these of artworks used the touch sensor part to create the work. When the sensors feel any part of the body touch the sensor, then the message will send back to the computer.

We just go back to the piano staircase, I think this work is good enough and creative enough as an artwork. Nowadays, every people are busy on work every day. Especially in commercial cities, most of the people live in there just like robots to work and work every day. And they have no time to take care on their life and healthy. It is a time for them to relax and do more exercise by making climbing the stairs a note-worthy experience. The idea is simple, it just want to make the people more healthy and happy. As a wonderful artwork, I believe that must give some message to the audience. If the work only releases the feeling of the producer, I don’t think it will be a good artwork. The idea is simple, it just wants to make fun and make change to people’s behavior better than before. As the growth up of technology development, a lot of tools can make the human more convenient, but it also make the human become lazier and rely on the technology. But now, such of these artworks can make changes to the human again, make people more rely on their own power. I think this is very important for us, it is because one thing we must know. Technology is depended on the human but not the human relies on the technology.

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