Karina van Heck’s Body Speaker

http://vimeo.com/12593222

Karina van Heck’s Body Speaker is a experimental electronic music system that consists of a number of wearable devices that amplify and capture the internal sounds of your body.

According to FashioningTechnology’s Syuzi:

The device draws the wearer below the surface of his own skin and allows them to investigate and remix the various sounds of his bodily functions.

The project is a commentary and criticism of the use of invasive technologies, such as X-rays and small cameras used to observe internal organs, by the medical industry to probe the human body.

For me, this project suggests a certain spirituality that requests the user to listen and “tune” the frequency of his own body. It’s almost a metaphor for meditation.

Unfortunately, the promo video’s fetishistic focus on the mechanics of Body Speaker leaves you with barely any idea of what the output is – making you think that the model is hot, but the Body Speaker is not.

13 thoughts on “Karina van Heck’s Body Speaker

  1. that's it ? no example of what it sounds like ? or is the " heartbeat " all there
    is to it ? or is the music we hear throughout the ?ANNOYING? stop motion
    video what it's suppose to sound like ? I'm confused.

  2. Coming from Holland the only thing which goes through my mind after seeing all this (and after googleing "karina van heck") is "Who is paying for all this?". I bet I know; this modern art kind of thing ("fascinated by medical science she uses medical objects and equipment and combines those into odd "placeboprotheses" under the name "Med Technics") usually gets a good subsidy from our local government (something which is being put to discussion more and more often now). In other words; my countrymen and I are paying dearly for this kind of sillyness.

    As Joe said; she discovered the stethoscope, big wow.

    And what also surprises me is that the artist herself seems to feel too insecure to demonstrate he own creation. No; she needs a model. Reminds me of some other "modern art" artist who created a pile of sand to represent the water flood back in the '50is here.

    It caused quite some commotion when people found out that he hired a company to dump a pile of sand somewhere only to do nothing more about it. That was the way "he intended it". also nicely sponsored by the Dutch taxpayers of course…

    No, when it comes to stuff like this I'm very cynical.

  3. i have wondered if there was a possible way to record sounds from the body, stomach makes some rather strange noises along with the digestive sound of the intestine twins 😛 amazing!

  4. I bet if this stuff were marketed as "Karina Van Heck's Acoustic Sex Toys. Imagine the Possibilities!" , they'd sell quite a few units. After all, they already have the ad video.

    just tryin' not to be cynical.

    Heh!

  5. Pickle Surprise is the most kick ass youtube video ive seen in a long time, that should have been the original post, just for sheer awesomenesssss!

  6. "And what also surprises me is that the artist herself seems to feel too insecure to demonstrate he own creation. No; she needs a model. "

    What a pathetic remark. Have you ever seen a fashion- designer demonstrate his own creation? Does Karl Lagerfeld walk the catwalk in his latest summer dress, and does that make him insecure? I would not call an artist who appears even on the web with her full name ( I guess it is no artist name) too insecure to stand behind her art.

    and btw, You are far from cynical, you are just trashing somebodies work.

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