KaiOmi Tapes by Naomi Knight and Kai Chen
Fall 2023
KaiOmi Tapes by Naomi Knight and Kai Chen - KaiOmi tapes is a two tape collaborative edition produced along with cast plaster and a custom shoe box that pays homage to the light up shoe as it relates to childhood. Knight and Chen drew on their personal/familial histories for this project each featuring archival family photos and images of their own bodies that are custom fit inside plaster casted children's shoes. The artists recorded sound of themselves doing various activities that remind them of childhood; i.e. running, skipping, jumping rope with contact mics inside of their sneakers. These sounds were layered with samples of sounds from our childhood specifically as they relate to light-up shoes. The shoes were cast using plaster of paris made from a custom alginate mold and individually decorated by each artist.
KaiOmi Tapes by Naomi Knight and Kai Chen - Detail view of the custom shoe box
KaiOmi Tapes by Naomi Knight and Kai Chen - Detail front view of the both shoes and the cassette tapes featuring the artists socks
KaiOmi Tapes by Naomi Knight and Kai Chen - Detail side view of Naomi's shoe/tape
KaiOmi Tapes by Naomi Knight and Kai Chen - Detail side view of Kai's shoe/tape
KaiOmi Tapes by Naomi Knight and Kai Chen - Detail view of the inside of the J-Cards featuring collages of archival childhood photos Naomi (left) and Kai (right)
KaiOmi Tapes by Naomi Knight and Kai Chen - Detail view of the outside of the J-Cards featuring photos of the artists socks and pants that slot into the custom plaster shoes. Naomi (left) and Kai (right)
The Media of Sound is a course designed and taught by Ross Wightman at Yale University that examines the material, technological, and cultural frameworks through which sound is recorded, produced, and circulated. The course focuses on the design of both sonic works and the physical and digital media that contain them, emphasizing experimental and conceptual approaches to recording technology.
Through hands-on projects, students create sonic and audiovisual works that subvert, reconfigure, or hybridize conventions of music production. These projects are contextualized through the study of historical and contemporary sound art and recording practices, considered both as industry norms and as critical departures from them.
The course explores how sound is transmitted and received across media such as tape, vinyl, and digital formats, alongside the affordances and limitations of recording hardware and software from antiquated multi-track devices to contemporary DAWs. Topics include recording and editing sound, formatting and designing artwork for sound releases, collaborative production workflows, and the creation of both digital and physical media.