Thursday, November 30, 2006

le toaster performeur

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Saturday, November 11, 2006

le toaster bruiteur



nous avons laissé trainer le toaster par terre à l'école, alors qu'il diffusait des bruits.
Les passants étaient tour à tour intrigués, curieux et perplexes

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Experience

A second hand toaster, will be placed on the bar table of the 11th floor. It is constantly diffusing noisy and vibrating sounds which are disturbing the actual environment. The only way of making it stop is to unplug it.
The closer one gets to the toaster by even trying to listen into it the stronger will be the sonar experience while having the feeling of entering an intimate space.



Technical aspects

It is a simple low-tech installation.
Speakers connected to a walkman will be put inside the shell of a toaster. The electric cables of the speakers are leading through the larger electric cable which is providing the toaster with energy. By unplugging it the sound stops.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

proposal take 3

concept

TT - toast in transit proposes a sound installation in the
lounge area on the 11th floor of the EV building. The installation will illustrate the concept of detournement and transition. We want to give a banal "single purpose" object a new meaning by denaturing it into an absurd physical transitional space. A toaster will be diffusing immersive sounds from the subway environment.


By changing the task of the toaster, we want to charge it with a different meaning. The toaster is no longer just an object, it becomes a material representation of transition - the state of being in between places, or being between asleep and awake. We chose the toaster because it represents the transition from a state to another, and the subway because it represents the transition between two places.
The area chosen for this installation is also acting as a transitional space, since it is situated high, between the ground and the sky and also between a working area and a living room, high up on the 11th floor.

The diffused sound is caracterized by the omnipresence of machinery and ventilation sounds of different subway stations which are infinitely repeating and resonating.
We do see a parallel with the heat of the toaster, echoing inside the walls of the object. Furthermore, the final jump of the bread out of the toaster is comparable of getting off the subway.

caroline proposal

TT - toast in transit

Toast in Transit in a sound installation that will take place in the
lounge of the 11th floor of the EV building. The installation consists
of a toaster diffusing sounds from the subway environment.

We want to express the concept of transition, using 2 symbolic
elements: the toaster being the physical transition, and the subway,
the spatial transition. The room is also acting as a transition space,
since it can be viewed as a waiting room.

The sound environment in the subway station is quite omnipresent.
Machinery and ventilation sounds are infinitely echoing, submerging
the users. We can see a parallel with the heat of the toaster, echoing
inside the object and submerging the bread.


We wanted to denature some components of our everyday routine with a
touch of absurdity. The strangeness of the mix is motivated by the
semi-awake state that happens often in the morning, when we rush to
get our toast and then rush to the subway.

proposal_sound installation

concept:

TT - toast in transit proposes a sight specific sound installation in the
lounge area on the 11th floor of the EV building. It is based on the concept of detournement and transition. We want to give a banal one purpose object a new symbolic meaning by denaturazing it into an absurd physical transitional space. A toaster will be diffusing sounds from immersive subway environments.

A banal object, the toaster is given the task to play sound instead of toasting bread and therefore its original purpose is changed. We want it to physically represent a state of transition by feeding it with sound from a subway space.
The toaster is no longer just an object, it becomes a material representation of transition - the state of being in between ( spaces); semi-awake. The space choses for this installation is also acting as a transition space, since it is high in the air on the 11th floor, inbetween ground and space
( clouds) and also inbetween a working area and a living room.

The diffused sound is caracterized by the omnipresence of machinery and ventilation sounds of different subway stations which are infinitely echoing.
We do see a parallel between the heat of the toaster, inside the object and the running of the machines and ventilations of the subway. Furthermore the final shoot of the bread out of the toaster is comparable when getting off the subway.

Saturday, November 04, 2006

regarde ce que jai trouvé chez moi!

Friday, November 03, 2006

the holy toaster

Toaster (par wikipedia)

A Toaster is a device to toast bread.
The Toasters are a ska band.
Toaster is a common nickname for the AEM-7 electric railroad locomotive.
Toaster is a racial slur for Cylons as seen in Battlestar Galactica (re-imagining).
Toaster is also a common nickname for Video Toaster, a live video-production suite from NewTek.
Toaster is also a name of a plugin for Winamp.
Toaster is the nickname, used by Netgear Technical Support, for the Netgear's Storage Centeral Model# SC101
Toaster is a DJ talking or chanting over a rhythm or beat in Jamaican music

a full Linux terminal server built by Bryan G. into a toaster oven
http://www.riverdale.k12.or.us/linux/toaster/

how toaster work

In this article, we'll dissect a typical pop-up toaster to answer all of these questions and more!

here a little overview on cordless toasters http://www.toaster.org/cordless.html

About 6,000 years ago, ancient Egyptians developed breads as we know them today. They discovered that if they let bread dough sit out in Egypt's nice, warm climate, it would puff up, and if this dough was baked in an enclosed oven it would retain its fluffiness. This seemingly magical process was not fully understood until the 17th Century when the microscope revealed the yeast cells that cause leavening.

The process of scorching bread to preserve it spread through many cultures. The word toast comes from the Latin Torrere, Tostum - to scorch or burn. The Romans, in their conquests, took their love of toasted bread with them and spread the custom farther, even up into Britain. Later, English colonists brought the tradition to the Americas.

Toasting bread does more than just preserve it, of course, it changes its nature; bread becomes sweeter, crunchier and the perfect surface on which to spread all sorts of things.

hearth toaster
16th Century Hearth Toaster
There were a variety of methods for making toast in pre-electric times, from using the hot hearthstone, to putting bread on multi-purpose toasting forks and holding it over a fire, to employing fancy, hinged bread holders that could be attached to the side of a fireplace and swung into the flame.

Most toasting devices made up until the 20th century were unique, hand-crafted items made by the local blacksmith. "The blacksmith appreciated his own work, often embellishing his toasters with curlicues, scrolls, hearts, and loops. The toasters had long handles so that the cook's hands would be well away from the heat," wrote Louise K. Kantz in The Story of the Toaster, which appeared in Spinning Wheel, November 1973.

Earl Lifshey, in his book The Housewares Story, speculated that, "the first regularly manufactured toasters in [the United States] were probably the tin and wire affairs designed to set over a coal stove opening or a gas burner."

The electrical revolution didn't eliminate the invention and production of non-electric toasters and they're still a popular item today with campers, both in the pyramidal and collapsible form.

The 20th century also saw the development of the non-electric sandwich toaster, like the Tonka Toaster shown below. The sandwich toaster opens like a clamshell--you place a slice of bread in the toaster flat, top it with whatever you desire, put another slice of bread on top, close the toaster and hold it over a fire. You end up with a sealed, toasted-whatever-sandwich--yum!


what do you know about toasters?
try out the Toaster Quiz http://www.toaster.org/quiz/popquiz.htm

brave little toaster


Plot Summary for "The Brave Little Toaster" (1987) (from imdb)

When a young boy and his family go on holiday, their household appliances, led by the toaster, think they've been abandoned. They decide, rather than be left alone in the house for who knows how long, to try to find him. So begins a dangerous and amusing venture through the city and countryside.