Traditional music boxes from Dong ethnic group come face to face in London with 21st century science

Photo shows a Dong music box being made in China. [Photo courtesy of Dr Nick Bryan-Kinns]

They are described as interactive artifacts inspired by the Dong ethnic minority culture in rural China and focus on Interaction Design with Audio (IDwA).

Included are Doye boxes with their beautiful local songs and memories from Dong culture.

People can interact by changing the position of the box, creates different atmospheres by projecting local patterns as shadows on coloured lighting.

The Dong Shine is a portable music lamp based on Dong culture. Drawings on papers represent sceneries using Dong-style patterns, playing Dong songs. People interact by waving their hand under the lamp to make it play different music.

Dong Tunes is a traditionally shaped Lucky Flower decoration hung in symbolic buildings in Dong's community for good luck.

The KeepMake is a modern-day keepsake for storing intangible materials found in the surrounding environment, drawing Inspiration from local waterwheel. It features the sound of the river; and makes sound of local waterwheel when tilted to ear.

Bryan-Kinns told Xinhua: "A Maker space is a collaborative work space for making, learning, exploring and sharing that uses both high tech digital tools and no-tech traditional tools. Maker spaces are quite popular in big cities such as Shenzhen or London, but ours is one of the first in rural Chinese location."

"The idea was to combine traditional Dong crafts and music with the Western concept of music boxes. The projects utilised local textiles and bamboo making to create hybrid objects interactive objects built locally and using local sounds using western technologies," said Bryan-Kinns.

A number of students from Hunan University, along with a Hunan alumni currently at Queen Mary studying for a PhD as a student of Bryan-Kinns are expected to go to the Intersections event.