Masticator
is a headgear with custommade electronics that gives audio
visual feedback of chewing during meals. At each chew the
device beeps and counts the chewing on the LED digital display.
The number loops between 0 to 9 and does not add up.
One who wears
the Masticator also becomes "The Masticator".
The Masticator
occasionally visits restaurants such as McDonald's to chew
slowly on hamburgers and fries in ritualistic manner.
MAST-I
System
Sensing of
the mastication was achieved by the state-of-the-art technology
called MAST-I system. The technology takes
advantage of the phenomenon that the masseter muscle at
the sides of the jaw stiffens and pops out as the upper
and lower teeths bit at each mastication. A push-button
switch is placed on the masseter muscle and the muscle pushes
the button when the teeth bite. MAST-I
is the abbreviation of Mastication Activated
Switch Technology version
one.
The counter
was made using BASIC Stamp. The basic code was written by
Johnny
Chung Lee
Social
reform by super mastication
Horace Fletcher,
a social reformer/first dietetic faddist in the early 20th
century, promoted his dietetic system based on super mastication.
His “chew-chew fad” was quite popular in America
and Europe. Thomas Edison, Franz Kafka, and John D. Rockefeller
were among the practitioners of Fletcherism. He sought for
social reform by using the careful super mastication technique
to solve urban social problems like poverty, sickness, and
crime.
Exhibitions
and Sightings
Oct 2007: Super Mastication Show, Halloween
Spooktacular Variety, Amnesia
Bar, San Francisco, CA July 2005: Exhibition Media tonic 2, Pittsburgh Filmmakers,
Pittsburgh May 2005: Seen at Original Hotdog shop, Carnegie
Mellon University, Pittsburgh May 2005: Seen at Taste of India, Carnegie
Mellon University, Pittsburgh May 2005: Seen at Ellis gallery, Carnegie
Mellon University, Pittsburgh May 2005: Seen at McDonald’s, downtown
Pittsburgh May 2005: Seen at Arby’s, downtown
Pittsburgh
Video
Masticator
demo Quicktime
10.8MB (1min37sec)
Masticating
Arby's Quicktime
18.7MB (2min25sec)
Masticator
(2005) pig rawhide, human bone, electronics
The
circuit box and the LED digital display
Masticator
captured by a camera masticating the roast beef sandwich
at Arby's. May 2005
