3D Printing

Artist creates 3D-printed voice sculpture of Obama's speech

Artist creates 3D-printed voice sculpture of Obama's speech
This 3D-printed sculpture is a three-dimensional materialization of President Obama’s voiceprint (Photo: Gilles Azzaro)
This 3D-printed sculpture is a three-dimensional materialization of President Obama’s voiceprint (Photo: Gilles Azzaro)
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A close up of the grooved surface of the voice sculpture (Photo: Gilles Azzaro)
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A close up of the grooved surface of the voice sculpture (Photo: Gilles Azzaro)
Giles Azzaro with "Next Industrial Revolution" (Photo: Gilles Azzaro)
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Giles Azzaro with "Next Industrial Revolution" (Photo: Gilles Azzaro)
This 3D-printed sculpture is a three-dimensional materialization of President Obama’s voiceprint (Photo: Gilles Azzaro)
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This 3D-printed sculpture is a three-dimensional materialization of President Obama’s voiceprint (Photo: Gilles Azzaro)
The voice sculpture is housed in a casing designed by Patrick Sarran (Photo: Gilles Azzaro)
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The voice sculpture is housed in a casing designed by Patrick Sarran (Photo: Gilles Azzaro)
A laser light lets viewers know what part of the soundscape they are listening to (Photo: Gilles Azzaro)
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A laser light lets viewers know what part of the soundscape they are listening to (Photo: Gilles Azzaro)
A side view of Obama's voice sculpture (Photo: Gilles Azzaro)
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A side view of Obama's voice sculpture (Photo: Gilles Azzaro)
A voiceprint embedded in wearable jewellery (Photo: Gilles Azzaro)
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A voiceprint embedded in wearable jewellery (Photo: Gilles Azzaro)
Voiceprints of twins reading the same line show significant differences (Photo: Gilles Azzaro)
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Voiceprints of twins reading the same line show significant differences (Photo: Gilles Azzaro)
A voice print embedded within a gem (Photo: Gilles Azzaro)
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A voice print embedded within a gem (Photo: Gilles Azzaro)
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It seems there's little that you can't create with 3D printing; we've recently seen lingerie, guns, rocket engines, musical instruments and even rooms. French artist Gilles Azzaro, however, uses the technology to capture something much more abstract. His 3D-printed sculptures of voice recordings resemble alien landscapes, with high and low tones represented as peaks and troughs. Instead of only hearing the rich tones of Barack Obama's State of the Union speech, you can see them too, in Azzaro's latest sculpture entitled "Next Industrial Revolution."

Interestingly, in the 39-second clip of Obama's voice, the president expresses his views on how 3D printing could potentially revolutionize the way things are made.

To materialize a person's spoken words into a more permanent form, Azzaro created programming software that could digitally reconstruct a person's voice in three dimensions, which he subsequently patented. His early attempts at creating sculptures out of these voice prints suffered without access to the right tools, but all that changed when 3D printers came along.

A laser light lets viewers know what part of the soundscape they are listening to (Photo: Gilles Azzaro)
A laser light lets viewers know what part of the soundscape they are listening to (Photo: Gilles Azzaro)

Converting the snippet of Obama's address into a three-dimensional image took the software about five hours. The final beautifully-contoured 5-foot (1.5-m) voice sculpture took around 350 hours to print, using a desktop 3D printer. Weighing about 6 kg (22 lb) in total, the interactive sculpture lets a person see the part of the speech they are listening to, as a laser light passes over it.

Aside from immortalizing Obama's voice, Azzaro has also created voice sculptures of Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Neil Armstrong, Marilyn Monroe, John F Kennedy and others.

Check out a video of Obama's voice sculpture, and a video showing how it was made, below.

Source: Gilles Azzaro via Wired UK

Obama Voice Sculpture : Next Industrial Revolution (Gilles AZZARO)

3D Printing voiceprint President Barack Obama : Next Industrial Revolution (Gilles AZZARO - 2013)

View gallery - 9 images
4 comments
4 comments
englishrancher
Looks like a bunch of pinocchio noses.
Newbee @ Atlas
This is a brilliant stroke of genius and beauty. I look forward to seeing it in person and purchased by Art philanthropists.
drgnfly004
wow now i know what boring looks like
R13
I'm not sure how much this project cost to accomplish, but I could of produced the same results with ah bull, couple bails of hey and a little patiences...