"About the past 6000 hours" is a project and research I worked on at NYU Shanghai from September 2023 to June 2024. It was a practical exploration into "Recording and Memory." The principles behind these wooden sound instruments are inspired by photography. Sound vibrations are carved onto a wax cylinder via a needle, which records the audio. I planned to adapt this principle for a different purpose, such as creating a loop machine.

When people shout into the horn while rotating the wooden disk, the sound is etched onto a small section of wax attached to the outer ring of the disk via a needle. On the next rotation, the sound is played back from the same section. Round after round, the wax retains the sound but is gradually worn down by the needle’s scraping. Over time, the sound becomes increasingly fuzzy until it disappears entirely. This process might resemble how memories fade over time.

The live performance or activation live served as a process of validation. Many people shouted into the horns together, anticipating a positive outcome. At that moment, a relationship emerged between the nature of recording and memory.