Tonefloat at FON 2009
A late addition and surprise hit of FON’s Saturday lineup was Manchester’s Tone Float. Here’s what their website has to say:
Originally commissioned by Walk the Plank for the inaugural and very first
Manchester Art Car Parade, the ‘People’s Prize’ winner >> tonefloat << continues to entertain and delight with its sub-lime fusion of form and function, revelling in the grand tradition of the English Eccentrics.
What does it do ?
As you can see in the photo, > tonefloat < is a bit of a mutant mobile milkbottle xylophone.
Each bottle has a small electrical hammer behind it, which is ‘played’ by a midi keyboard or drum machine, and a few strings of wire ‘n chips.
It makes music !
Milkbottles have a pretty harsh tone when empty, but when filled with ‘milk’ to different levels a semblance of tonal scale emerges, and the fun begins…
It’s interactive !
You can play too…. Very popular with children, our d.i.y and ‘hands-on’ approach makes tonefloat more than a spectacle, taking the curious and the enthusiast to a whole new level.
www.backtothetrees.org/tonefloat/
Photos: Will Miners