Simone (2nd workshop) - alarm

For my electronics project, I created a sort of alarm. It consists of: an old rotary phone, a touch switch, a portable cd player and recording of sirens, speakers, and a rotating flashing red police light. When you pick up the phone, the touch switch is activated, the light goes on and you hear sirens. When you hang up, it stops.

inactive alarm

activated alarm

I was inspired to make this piece after my roommate called 911 at 4am one night recently after we were awoken by some unusual, loud noises. The police came to our house and searched it for burglars. They found nothing; we now have reason to believe it was raccoons in our attic. The incident had a large effect on me for some reason, so I decided to make some art about it. When I was making it, I was thinking about issues of security and the invasion of private space, as well as the intimidating nature of alarms. I find it interesting how these safety measures can often be just as frightening as the threat that they are protecting you against.

I envision this project as an installation; I would like to have the phone on some sort of pedestal, in an empty room. The room would be dark except for a spotlight on the phone. All of the other components of the alarm would be hidden in the darkness. When the participant entered the room, the phone would ring, encouraging them to pick it up. When they did, the light and sirens would turn on.