HAAST (RUSH)

We feel like we live in a society where we are always chased. By ourselves, by time, by society. The faster
we move, the closer this comes. ‘HAAST’ explores and accentuates this concept by giving the wearer the
feeling of being chased, whereas there is no physical entity chasing them. When running brings you closer to what you are trying to escape, what position will you take?

The idea behind HAAST is to explore the concept between stress, or being rushed, and the character of
one’s life. In the installation, this takes the form of footsteps following the wearer which are influenced
by the speed of the person walking.

The wearer will naturally want to start walking in the experience. However, when the acceleration is
abruptly high, this will result in a chaotic and stressful output in the form of loud and busy steps behind
the person. Therefore, to be able to start walking in a more peaceful manner the wearer must only
gradually increase their speed. The same goes for changes in acceleration going the other way, abruptly
stopping will also result in a lot of noise. Big changes always cause a lot of footsteps behind the wearer,
the better way is to be gentle with the pace.
In conclusion, the interaction that will take place between the wearer and the installation is based on the
idea of living a full and balanced life. The pace – that is our input – and the rushed sound – which is our
output – come together in an interplay of gradual increase or decrease.

We created a wearable installation consisting of a pair of sandals, equipped with speakers on a tube
attached to a backpack. We placed distance sensors on the bottom of these sandals to administer the
taken steps. The communication within the installation goes as follows:
Sensor -> Arduino -> Pure Data -> Output speakers
For the communication between the Arduino and Pure Data, a laptop is placed in the backpack. HAAST was created during the course Sound, Space and Interaction at Leiden University.

In collaboration with:
Maarten Mintjes

2022