Title from book sculpture panel.

Includes sound file of poems written and read by Cole Swensen.

"The Leyden Jar Project is an interactive book sculpture by Karen Pava Randall with accompanying poetry by Cole Swensen, celebrating the history of early electrical experimentation from the discovery of the Leyden jar in 1745 to modern times"--Preface to the text volume, page 10.

"Created in an edition of twelve (of which ten are for sale), the Leyden Jar Project sculptures consists of acrylic box fabricated by Todd and Ian Harris of 42 Design Fab in Indian Orchard, Massachusetts. The glass jars were blown by Forrest Whitcher in the MIT glass studio in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The translucence of the acrylic and the glass are contrasted by the bands of gold (leaf over copper foil) encircling each of the jars. These conductive metal surfaces are connected to an Arduino microprocessor stored in a compartment below the bottom shelf of jars. When a jar is touched, a signal is sent to the microprocessor, which causes it to play a recording of one of the thirty-six poems in this book; each jar 'contains' three poems, which are played according to the length of time that the jar has been touched. The sculptures were assembled and programmed by Karen Pava Randall at her studio in Northampton, Massachusetts [and are] housed in a clamshell box measuring 7.5 by 9 by 16. Beneath a panel in the box are additional items: a solar panel and a transformer cable which can both be used to recharge the Leyden Jar Project's battery."--Leyden Jar Project website.

"The interactive book sculpture consists of twelve glass jars lined on the outer wall with copper foil that in turn has been covered with gold leaf. ... To read [that is, hear] a poem ... [T]ouch a jar with your bare finger. When you remove your finger, a poem will play. ... In the bottom of the sculpture, behind the panel, are a set of Arduino circuit boards. The Arduino Uno is a microprocessor that can be programmed to sense various changes in the environment and respond to these changes. In the case of the Leyden Jar Project, the Arduino is connected to a capacitance touch circuit board that measures changes in capacitance levels. ... The MPR121 capacitance touch integrated circuit chip (which is connected by conductive wires to the twelve jars) senses when you've touched a jar and sends that information to the Arduino. I programmed the Arduino to interpret this information, gauge not only which jar you have touched, but also how long you were touching the jar before you released it. The Arduino uses these variables (time-held and which particular jar was touched) to choose which of thirty-six wav files to play. The wav file recordings of Cole's voice are stored on a tiny SD card no bigger than your thumb nail. This 4 GB digital storage chip is inserted into a circuit board that uses a VS1053B integrated circuit chip to play sound files."--Leyden jar project website.

The clamshell box also houses an accompanying printed book, with text by Karen Pava Randall: The Leyden jar : a biography (Propolis Press, 2018). The colophon to the book notes: "Twenty copies of this book were printed by Karen Pava Randall in February of 2018 at Wild Carrot Letterpress in Hadley, Massachusetts. ... Twelve of this Biography of the Leyden Jar were made to accompany the Leyden Jar Project sculptures." The books are numbered; the sets of sculptures are unnumbered.

Electromagnetism > Poetry.

Electricity > Poetry.

Capacitors > Poetry.

Artists' books > Massachusetts > Northampton > 21st century > Specimens.

Massachusetts > Northampton.

Artists' books.

Poetry.

Specimens.

Propolis Press, publisher.

Wild Carrot Letterpress, printer.

United States Massachusetts Northampton.