Toroidal Yodel

2016
Dimensions variable
Aluminum, wood, vinyl, circuitry
Collection of the artist

Toroidal Yodel is best installed in a long, processional space in which a free-standing wall masks the drivers and electronics. The drivers run all the time, sending Toroid-shaped slugs of air at the viewer, who senses them when standing facing the drivers. The drivers sound like a firing range. Although noisy, the Toroids strike gently and unpredictably, landing all over the viewer’s head, arms and upper body.

On entering the gallery, the viewer first sees the free-standing wall and four aluminum pedestals; the top of each is marked with a hand print. Under the handprint, there is an infrared switch that turns a sequence of vibrations on and off. Two of the pedestals are tall, for adults. Two are shorter, for children. Current flows to the vibrator when the viewer places a hand on the handprint. Viewers get three stimuli: haptic vibration delivered to their hands by the vibrators in the pedestals, impacts on their heads, torsos and arms when struck by toroids, and the noise of the drivers in their ears.

The drivers launch toroids in a sequence governed by a random program. The vibrations are similarly sequenced but are never in synch with the drivers. No single burst of sound or vibration or toroidal impact lasts any longer than any other.

The vibrators add another tactile layer. They feel like cell phone alerts. They also keep the viewer in position, trying to decide if the handprints are running the toroid launchers, which is the expected “cause-and-effect” outcome. By the time viewers realize that there is no cause and effect relationship between hand switches and the launchers—indeed not even a temporal matching between the launchers and the vibrations under the handprints—they have soaked up lots of toroids.