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Been all over the place, mentally and physically, recently. Had low energy the past two weeks, but seems to be on the up — and I’m on reading week! Hooray!
In the studio today doing it all:
Had idea re. a fan w/ tubing that I have, connecting it to the Internet of Things and my previous Untitled (Window) project. Researching solar wind, and Daniel Graffin’s wind sculptures:
Also this simple wing-flapping mechanism and the aluminum foil I have taped above the radiator, that flaps when the heat comes on.
Maybe there’s the illusion of some kind of function, like Alice Aycock’s sculptures?
I’ve also been attracted to stained glass for ages now, and it’s popped back up in my head in part due to Finn Simonetti’s work, but also bc of a church I’ve been walking by constantly. I like how at night, you only really see the pattern of the struts that hold the glass pieces, not the actual etched surfaces, except when a dim light shines through and reveals what’s beyond. I was also looking into half-silvered or two-way mirrors, and projecting onto them. There’s Emily Pelstring’s work at KW:
I’ve been circling around the idea of ‘grids’ and frames and cubes. Copper crystal structures, and also the notion of the computer as an opaque, ‘black box’… Was also introduced to this piece:
Recording of “Box with the Sound of its Own Making” by Robert Morris from Richard Hoagland on Vimeo.
I had an idea to translate a bit = a box, and IP addresses as being 32-bit pieces of information, translate the IP’s four numbers to bits and construct a 32-box form to play with, ala. Sol LeWitt’s gridded forms. Imagined a pair, IP address of the ‘source’ and ‘destination’. Again, enjoying Daniel Graffin’s structures, as well as Jes Fan’s maze-like grids. Also reminds me of infrastructural elements in buildings, such as the sprinkler system and lights above me attached to the ceiling of my studio.
This swallow’s nest project idea that I’ve been circling around: I came across a 1930’s Bell telephone ad that poetically reads, “Their words have wings as swift as light” which I love. swift as in chimney swift birds? But also prior to finding that, I had had the idea of people speaking into a mic, and their voiced words translating into a burst of birds that would be projected onto the wall, where they would find homes in the plaster nests. Discussing with Luke, had the idea of little image slides or lcd screens inside the nests, that would light up and you could peer into. Perhaps it could be sited on the actual Bell building in halifax, by Agricola and North? The bricked up windows always make me look when I go by…
…it’s a data centre!!! of course.
This past Saturday I attended Dan Tapper’s ‘Expanded Sense’ workshop, which was a great introduction to Very Low Frequency (VLF) radiowaves, and building a super-simple antennae. (He also talked about transducer, converting energy from one signal to another) Booked a Zoom mic and was testing it again today, took some recordings of my computer and phone — both of which had ‘heartbeats’ or rhthmic clicks/thumps. I’m wondering if it’s the clocks in the computer? That might be too simple, and they also seemed to subtly change pace, which wouldn’t be appropriate.
I want to build a VLF receiver for my Phys. Comp. class — I took apart an old radio (not sure if it works, I’m a little nervous to put batteries in if I want to take it apart to use its components) I also want to try building a hydrophone with a sealed piezo, as Dan talked about. I have ideas about sealing it in a model of a baby eel form, specifically the leptocephalus form, and make it out of a transparent-ish silicone.
Also took some recordings of light switches and electrical outlets, in the process climbing up the ladder and retrieving a pair of camera/led lights that had been up there, presumably from another grad student. Which, when I took apart, I realised is fake — the only working parts are the batteries, a resistor, and a single blinking red LED. They’re meant to make you think you’re being watched — they’re totally non-functioning. Weird. Fascinating.
This is the Miro board I’m documenting some of this work:
