Description: For an exhibition at the MIT Media Lab, the Halo Disc was developed as an instrument that receives secrets. Based on a mysterious device that appears in Wong Kar-Wai’s film 2046, the disc works with whispers. In the film, the size and shape of the device’s surface is a doubly-curved bell of striped glazing. This enormous piece has no discernible end and does not return anything told into its depths.
Interested in the feedback response to a whisper, the form was turned into a series of curves of the same length, eventually becoming a closed loop. Ultimately the half-pipe delivered the best affect for a conversion of voice to lighting. Placing the Disc at head height, a small microphone would listen, and a microprocessor would transform that data into corresponding levels of light. The result would be a halo of light-points that would glow in response to the whispered secret.
