WaveBox

There was a time when the FM radio waves represented the future of broadcasting and public media. Today, the airwaves are a ghost land, full of corporate rock and conservative talk radio non-sense. Wave Box converts the airwaves into a toy, inviting you to play with the audio that lives in the air all around us.

We can’t see radio waves, and it’s easy to forget they are there, but they are a physical force in the air, rippling through our bodies and literally connecting us to the people around us. WaveBox uses the energy inside your body to tap into these invisible forces. Powered by two handmade capacitive touch sensors and an Arduino, WaveBox responds to minute electromagnetic fluctuations in the air to manipulate an FM radio and a speaker.

Move your left hand in the space around the box to change the frequency of the broadcast, or move your right hand to make the speaker within spin chaotically. The mechanism is deliberately unpredictable. To keep the broadcast on a single frequency you will need to keep your body completely still. The process is meditative, encouraging you to connect with your own body in order to control the airwaves.

Work was displayed in December 2024 at Fidget Space, Philadelphia PA.