Searching Again!

While in my recent residence in Tabor, Czech Republic at CESTA (www.cesta.cz) I created some Arduino ultrasonic sensor relays which triggered sounds and strobe lighting. It was easier than I thought and will definitely use it again with more complex usage.

Arduino Code

// © RHYS TURNER sensor (triggered) relay sketch
int LEDpin = 13;        // LED on 13 indicates running
int relayPin1 = 11;    // LED connected to digital pin 11
int relayPin2 = 12;    // LED connected to digital pin 12
int anIn1 = 0;
int anIn2 = 1;

int iAnVal1; //store sensor val 1
int iAnVal2; //store sensor val 1

int Thresh0 = 40;
int Thresh1 = 40;

void setup() {
Serial.begin(9600);          //Serial.write.
pinMode(LEDpin, OUTPUT);     // prepare the pin “LEDpin” for output
pinMode(relayPin1, OUTPUT);  // sets the digital pin as output 1
pinMode(relayPin2, OUTPUT);  // sets the digital pin as output 2
}

void loop()
{
iAnVal1 = analogRead(anIn1);   // read a value from the sensor 1
iAnVal2 = analogRead(anIn2);   // read a value from the sensor 2
delay(150);
//Serial.println(iAnVal1);
Serial.println(iAnVal2);
if (iAnVal1<Thresh0) {digitalWrite(relayPin1,HIGH);} else {digitalWrite(relayPin1,LOW);};
if (iAnVal2<Thresh1) {digitalWrite(relayPin2,HIGH);} else {digitalWrite(relayPin2,LOW);};
digitalWrite(LEDpin,HIGH);
delay(150);
digitalWrite(LEDpin,LOW);
}

Mel and I started a series or photographs playing with presence and absence through invisibility.

Invisible Rhys 1

Invisible Mel 1

Tabor, a beautiful 12th century town (maybe even earlier) with Medevil history located 2 hours south of Prague (Praha) is the location for an Aritst Residency program CESTA www.cesta.cz (which I have found out though is an Acronym for Cultural Exchange Station Tabor Assosication) means path. The building itself is an old mill and has a number of doorm like rooms with beds and shared accomodation.  The people, artists/musicians themselves, are lovely and very accomodating. After a long trip 35 hours on airplanes and 2 hours on a train we arrived frazzled though our bags were found (and actually arrived beofre us!). We went to explore the local old town for the first day to become aquainted with the place and people.

This is the Fountain de  Trevoli Archeological Ruins Rome       San Marco Square Venice   Kyoto temple   

Helsinki was cold around -5 degrees during the day and the evening was -11 degrees, however there wasn’t alot of snow, the locals said this winter was mild, they usually get 4 foot of snow but this time there wasn’t. They said the weather was strange. hmmm, we wondered if it was global warming!

Last night we were lucky enough to experience karaoke in Helsinki. It was hilarious! Boozed up Fins flailing about singing with all the passion one can muster. It felt like being in a small country town pub, it was called ‘Karaoke Pub’, there wasn’t any stage, so people on the mic could be anywhere, to ordering a drink, dancing on the dance floor or even on the toilet! There was a midget, loud personalities, a blind man and women between 30 years old to 50 falling on the ground from so much laughter. Hearing their souls spill out onto the microphone was the best thing to see on our last night. Unfortunately we didn’t have our cameras so we missed to capture the moment visually, however we did get some shots from the rest of the visit.