aquascape was designed by professor shinichi takemura (a media designer and cultural anthropologist at kyoto university of art and design) who was one of the speakers at last week's design indaba (a south african design expo and conference). the audience at the conference where he was speaking was told they were listening to the sound of a suikin-kutsu (an earthenware jar sometimes called a water harp) in the shokoku-ji temple in kyoto. it was a live feed. not only was he trying to bring to light the water situations of the world, he was also trying to relay that the idea of conventional media (e.g. the news) was not the only way we should enhance global connectivity. that we should not only share the extraordinary, but the ordinary realities of global lifestyle. for instance, with the ability to listen to the sounds of people in the street anywhere in the world – we would be less likely to launch into wars. you can listen to the water harp, or the sound of traffic in mumbai live at aqua-scape.jp. (via iconeye.com).
