An interactive installation of tabor drums that respond to visitors’ footsteps on the surrounding platforms, making the drumbeat audible.

Patriots is an interactive installation featuring tabor drums placed on low platforms, each surrounded by soil collected from different U.S. states. The drums are activated remotely: footwork on the platforms causes the drumheads to vibrate. A laser beam positioned beneath each drum “reads” these vibrations and sends the signal to an amplifier, which magnifies the frequency and makes the drumbeat audible.

Teresa developed Patriots following research at the Penn Museum Library on 17th-century military defense tactics. At that time, subterranean threats, via tunneling, were sometimes detected by placing pins on a drumhead; vibrations from underground movement would cause the pins to bounce, signaling approaching danger. The state-specific soil grounds the work in the American landscape, raising questions about what constitutes defense, what crosses the line into paranoia, and ultimately what makes a patriot.

In 1995, Patriots was initially exhibited in the Sanctuary at the Fleisher Art Memorial. The work was then reinstalled at the Philadelphia Museum of Art where Teresa collaborated with Rennie Harris, founder of Rennie Harris Puremovement, on an improvisational performance. Harris animated the installation with hip-hop movement, playfully activating and responding to the drums as he danced in and around the piece.

Photo

1. Installation view in the sanctuary at Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA

Photo credit: Gary McKinnis