Auditory Device was made in response to increasing echo chambers all around us. Echo chambers are environments in which a person encounters only beliefs or opinions that coincide with their own. Their existing views are reinforced and alternative ideas are not considered. Meant to be held, this formed and fabricated copper orb features 6 openings, each designed for speaking or listening. It can serve as an echo chamber itself for dialogue among peers or as a space where voices meet without truly connecting. The dynamic is entirely in the hands of the participants, choosing whether to engage in meaningful exchange, to speak past one another, to ruminate, or to share secrets. A sandblasted satin finish leaves the copper vulnerable to bear the marks of the speakers and listeners. The more it is used the richer the patina becomes.

Olfactory Device allows a group of people to have the same sensory experience. It is a communal yet intimate encounter. A hollow hand-built glazed ceramic sphere with 7 spouts for 7 noses holds a piece of felt infused with vetiver. The felt can be refreshed or exchanged through a hole on the bottom which is closed off with a copper tension-fit plug. This device is doing more than just providing a shared encounter of a scent. You are sharing breath with others; breathing in oxytocin, pheromones, and perhaps the spirit of the person across from you. It can be wonderful, awkward, transformative, or creepy. No matter what connection happens.

Together Auditory device and Olfactory Device allow us to pause and connect, to ourselves, our senses and ultimately each other.