The Porthleven Prize (continued)

The lanterns by Jen Hamblin

The Harbour

We were lucky with the weather which remained sunny and dry all week. However, the lanterns were only visible for about 24 hours and we didn't want to run the risk of them falling into the sea. On the previous page you can see them lit up. In the picture above you can see them being secured in place.

Tekno Telephone

In Porthleven Harbour there was a decommissioned classic red telephone box. I had the idea of making it an installation with some playable elements. I'd been learning the fundamentals of techno and thought this could be a good opportunity to combine the two. I'd also remembered a 1-person disco at a festival I'd attended years ago. 

Tekno Telephone

I found a Russian telephone that had a speaker on the back (which worked). Inside was plenty of old circuitry, which I scooped out and replaced.

Russian telephone
Russian telephone (internal)

I add 3 breadboards with different functions:


  1. A board to trigger LEDs both in the box and on top
  2. A board to trigger a voice that said the word Techno when triggered by a switch
  3. A board to play a techno track (A Porthleven remix of Detroit)


The system ran on batteries and despite heavy use did keep going for most of the week. Here's a video of me testing the looped Detroit-inspired techno track through the existing rear speaker of the telephone.

 

Here's the unit in place:

Tekno Telephone (inside)

Here's the audio of the Tekno voice played when the button on the top was triggered:

And the whole unit running. The LEDs are flashing but its hard to make out in the bright sunlight.

It's arrival made the local Facebook page.

Porthleven Facebook page

On the next page, you can find out more about the other outdoor work.

The Porthleven Prize is sponsored by the Trevor Osborne Charitable Trust and awarded by Bath Spa University.