Childhood Dream

Zeke Bolukh, College of Engineering, School of Music, Theatre & Dance

Faculty Advisors: Derrick Yeo, Lecturer III, Robotics, CoE; Zeynep Özcan, Assistant Professor, SMTD

In Childhood Dream, I will hack and repurpose kid’s toys to perform the concept of childhood. This project is an intersection between music, robotics, and electrical engineering. Without a multidisciplinary approach, the concept of this project cannot be executed as clearly. The interdisciplinary nature of the project will demonstrate through multiple mediums: by visuals created with toys, the tinkering necessary to form my instruments, the music performed, and conceptually through my own childhood goals of being a musician and love of performing.

My final goal for the project is to hold a performance. While the project is largely based on music, the visuals remain incredibly important. I plan to incorporate MIDI and controlled lights in the performance. While augmenting toys, I need to preserve their aesthetics to ensure they are perceived as toys, rather than tools. In addition, my interactions with the toys and audience have to be playful to demonstrate the intended character.

The overall impact I hope to have on the audience is to reflect on the joy of childhood and the toys that amplified it. Like how toys guide play, growth, and happiness, the toys used in Childhood Dream will guide my narrative through music and lights. By analyzing the connections between toys and mood in the performance, I want audience members to consider the role toys have played in their childhood. In addition, I hope to inspire viewers to imagine alternate uses and hack household items. This will lead to viewers questioning what defines an instrument and nontraditional ways of musical expression.

My musical background and PAT studies will assist me in expressing childhood through sound and music. I have worked with MIDI and sound design in DAWs. With years of experience performing across genres and instruments, I understand how a performer’s expression impacts the audience’s perception of their work. I am currently taking PAT 101, a seminar on media arts, and working on the ZAP multimedia interactive art installation with Dr. Özcan, who has experience using sound design to convey stories and creating interactive art. Her work involves audience interaction and performer’s gestures to create sound. Dr. Özcan can provide additional insight on using sensors and how to further use toys to express music. As an engineering student, I have experience coding in Arduino and designing circuits. In addition, Dr. Yeo is experienced in hacking electronics and is serving as my mentor in both hardware and software design.

I plan to work on instruments and music through early March. Currently, I have a working prototype of a modified mini cat keyboard, and intend to modify more toys, currently including a dog guitar, larger cat keyboard, and toy cars on a track. As I finalize designs in late February and early March, I intend to experiment with controlling lights in the Davis Studio. Finally, I hope to hold a performance in Davis Studio putting all of these elements together in April.