Oxygen flute: A computer music instrument that grows

Abstract

The quality of the air we breathe depends on a balance of plant and animal life. Oxygen Flute is an interactive computer music environment that makes the exchange of gases audible. Gallery visitors enter a chamber with bamboo and four continuously performing (digitally modeled) flutes. Patterns in levels of carbon dioxide measured inside the chamber create the music. The computer flutes are played both in real time and from the accumulated history of fluctuations recorded in the space. The flute models are simulations of 9,000 year-old bone flutes from China.

Acknowledgments

The author is indebted to many colleagues without whom Oxygen Flute would never have reached its present form and taken its first breath. Musicians, engineers and artists who have contributed include Han Baoqiang, Patricio de la Cuadra, Ben Dean, Michael Gurevich, Richard Humphrey, Fernando Lopez-Lezcano, Greg Niemeyer and Gary Scavone.