Tapespace is an architectural scale installation where viewers can play cassette tape by hand. Viewers approach a wall covered in exposed ribbon that has been pulled out from a cassette tape and affixed to the surface of the wall. Using a hand-controlled playback device, visitors move over the strips of ribbon to create sound from the pre-recorded magnetic tape.
In addition to audio feedback, participants see a visual representation of the tape signal, where the lights mounted to the wall above grow brighter, corresponding to the voltage level the tapehead detects from the ribbon. Each part of the ribbon creates a unique lighting sequence based upon the type of music recorded onto it. Because the user is responsible for the speed that the ribbon passes over the tapehead, every user will have a different experience in the space, and learn to play the ribbon in their own way.
