Originally we were interested in non-tangible control of digital instrumentation. Like the conductor of an orchestra, we envisioned signaling and modeling sound using gesture rather than touch. However, realizing the technical difficulty of implementing this, we turned our attention towards building an interface that would enable non-tangible control of sound at a level less precise than that required to play an instrument. The idea was to create a MIDI-fied version of the Æolian harp, a zither-like instrument which sits in a window and is "played" by wind moving over twelve different gauges of string all tuned to the same note. What appealed to the creators about the Æolian harp was it’s complete lack of human agency. Specifically, an Æolian MIDI controller would represent a kind of direct interface between nature and technology, a merging of spiritus and techné.

Heidegger tells us that "Techné . . . reveals whatever does not bring itself forth and does not yet lie here before us, whatever can look and turn out now one way and now another." We believe in technology as a mode of revealing. Thus both in the woodworking construction of our prototype (a technology, to be sure) and in the electronics which it contains we strived to embody a form of techné, one which manifests an aesthetic where none was apparent before. Using the model of the Æolian harp, we wanted to created a sonic interface for nature itself which would enable any sort of pattern or structure inherent in wind flow to reveal itself.

However, much to our chagrin, it became apparent that the precision required to detect motion of the strings to trigger a corresponding MIDI event was too great for even the most sensitive piezo-electric transducer. (This is due to the fact that the Æolian harp is the only harp that is merely vibrated by wind, not physically plucked or hammered. The movement of air over the strings is nearly undetectable.) So, we abstracted the example of the harp once again and decided to create a bank of sensors which would respond to wind direction and speed. The resulting installation is part sculpture, part wind vane, part wind chime, and part equipment rack.