SARA ™ VOID 2020

Souvenir Archival Recording Apparatus (SARA™) is a project VOID started in 2019 with the idea of creating drawings with sound using the most ancient and analogical technique.
The artists built a machine based on the knowledge found in books and online of the first sound recording of history, realised by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville in 1860. He built a small rolling cylinder on which he set a piece of paper that he previously blackened with the smoke of an oil lamp. This black-smoke-coated paper is so sensitive that anything that touches the paper leaves a mark. With the help of a cone and a needle, he managed to draw and record the sound of his voice on this paper.
VOID uses the same technique with their machine, but on a much larger scale, and their drive is to make sound-drawings.
The results vary depending on different factors. Some drawings remind of landscapes, particularly desert horizons and sea views.
People are invited to deliver a recording of their voice telling a story about one of their memories. These stories are played on the SARA ™ machine and the sound waves are archived on print.