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mashups

The MASHine Is The Prodigal Son Of Music Mashups And Projection Mapping

This miracle machine makes magical custom mashups.
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The world of mashups is a hotbed for cultural juxtaposition and technical innovation, making use of expensive audio-manipulation software to bring artists like Korn and Taylor Swift or Jay-Z and The Beatles together in magnificently gratifying ways (if done right). Miles Polaski set up an installation that encompases almost everything magnificent, gratifying, and even empowering about mashup culture. Enter: The MASHine.

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The installation, which was covered in a great, GIF-heavy post on Prosthetic Knowledge, is a two-part interactive audiovisual mashup factory living at the William King Museum in Abdington, VA. The first part is a box smothered in 42 red and black buttons, each of which activates either an instrumental or vocal sample. The box is also connected to an elegant projection equalizer (pictured above) that pulses and flashes to the beat of the music. The buttons can produce over 400 different mashup combinations, conforming to the creative whimsy of anybody with enough fingers (or friends) to push the buttons.

In a video Polaski published showcasing his project, you can see the process of projection mapping the visualizer onto a blank wall, followed by the entranced faces of museum-goers giving the MASHine a whirl. Perhaps the next Daniel Kim, creator of the trendsetting Pop Danthology mashup series, will bring his passion to the next level in Abdington. We wonder what Girl Talk would have to say about this beast…

GIFs made by the always-awesome Prosthetic Knowledge: