Transient Relics

Abstract

This paper examines creating a temporary virtual relic through the creation of an interactive soundscape in the context of a religious pilgrimage known as the Stations of The Cross. The paper examines the history of the rite and its transformation from a physical pilgrimage to a virtual one. It examines the phenomenon of iconic relics, which in some case have a reckoned value equivalent to that of the physical objects they represent. Also, it examines both the conceptual and legal implications of embodying sound into tangible objects, resulting in their treatment as protected relics. Finally, it describes the creation of an artwork, whereby religious pilgrims manipulate interactive sonic balls that communicate with other networked sonic devices in an attempt to correlate metaphors of human behaviours-such as play, humiliation, and mobs-into a sonic relic of the historical narrative of Christ taunted by Roman soldiers. CCS CONCEPTS• Human-centered computing → Sound-based input / output; • Social and professional topics → Religious orientation; • Applied computing → Ethnography; Sound and music computing.