Storefront interactiv window display
The aesthetic functionality rahter than the practical purpose of an invented object and its capacity to provoke a relfection about the experience of digital technology.
I will display an interactiv instalation in the window of my storefront. It will be composed of the elements I have create for fab academy assignment.
I will treat is a collage of artifacts interacting with eachother and with human presence.
I want to include self-powered element, energy consumption visualization and vibration sensor system as an interface to communicate the inside with the outside of the window.
I gathered visual references that are my source of inspiration. I may not refer literally but use them as references of machine art. That includes Dada art and early references of machine art. I like these as contrast between analog and the digital as an analogy with old/vs/new. Observing the leitmotiv in the fascination for machine through time.
It is my intention to design an abstract machine with practical functionality that is not declared other than simply produce an implicit experience for the user. The out put will act as a witness of the reaction to the interaction with the machine.
Potential static state - interactiv input - personal reaction.
I was inspired by Olafur Eliasson's "smile" challenge for the "why make almost anything"recitation project and want to embed into the machine a response to his challenge. I am also making a deliberate allusion to Duchamps ready-made art.
Interactive fabsculpture or perpetual art are ways to describe my approach. I like the idea of active observation when a human triggers the ramdom comlexity of a system. And how it is experienced by users.
On the larger scope the project explores monitorization of the energy produced by the Installation/vs/the energy consumed to make and kept the "machine" functionning.
Developing the project
I will concentrate in creating a basic version of a system. I will intentionally make it simple, as simple and immediate as possible.
the material amd technique i want to experiment with:
magnet
glass
vibration, movement and light sensor
sound frequency
data monitoring and visualization
recycled components
References that have inspired me during my reasearch on this project
Milli-Motein: A Self-Folding Chain of Programmable Matter with a One Centimeter Module Pitch
Working free energy generator_autonomous artifact
Introduction to Magnetism and Induced Currents
passive acoustic tap tracking acroos large surface
generating current using magnet
Preparativ experiments
Using existing hardware and elements I assembles a mock-up of Duchamps
Conclusion
I have struggled a lot throughout the semester to formalize my ideas regarding my final project. I recently realized that I had confused the interactiv window display idea with the artifact to be exposed in the window. For some reason I have been assuming that both are dependant while they are not. The storefront window needs an interactive device to control the artificial lighting through a simple board with phototransistor and a relay to 220v, and eventually a proximity sensor so the person who gets closer to the window can interact.
The self powered artifacts idea was there from the beginning and as the weeks passed the elements lined-up. A determining moment was at eastern when, on holiday, I stumbled on the book Machine art from Moma in the Oppenhof art residency library. That book influenced me a lot as it reconnected me with the art of early 20th century, more specificaly Dada and Marcel Duchamps. There the coincidence revealed. Twistab and the dinamo bycicle wheel.
And I am realizing now that there are no concrete ways to go about it. It is a purely intuitiv process and more I doubt it, more I try to rationalize worst I feel about it.
The elements that I have experimented with are the following:
-electromagnets and permanent magnets to create a type of pendulum
-a bicycle wheel dynamo generating 12 volts current activated by a old 220v sewing machine motor. I also (innocently) intended to make the wheel spin using magnets but has no success.
-piezo sensor sticked to a glass pane activated by a tap on the glass
I spent lots of time experimenting with Arduino to get reading from 2 piezo on a window pane of the store front and also developped the base of a code that would provide a differential equation of the different sensors. Before going further in the process I read the MIT thesis Window tap on a large window pane paper-pdf .
piezo vibration sensor
I also played around with a permanent magnet hanging on a small chain and making it move using a powerful permanent cube and also with a 12v electromagnet. The result is curious and aleatory. They swing and spins in an interesting way but the problem is sometimes the movement roactically die and manuel activation is needed to reinitiate a sequence.
I would have like to experiement with creating magnetic fields using flat coil but time is running out and I need to come to a conclusion. Opening new door and spend more time experiementing with electric elements does not seem right at this point.
A composition of the diferent elements I have benn working on throuhout the semesters arranged together in the form of an abstract artifact/machine that marries the digital (electronics and programming) and the analog (mechanical and electrical) elements. The intention is to create an interactiv sculpture that has no other purpose but represent my very experience of technology: a contradiction between empowerment and slavery.
But after a long process and intents I decided to give up on this idea because I did not get to formalize and apply it within the FabAcademy process - It may be simply too ambitious for my skills. Also I do not feel comfortable about creating a machine that projects a pejorative vision while not showing any solution. That is opposite of my nature. The other reason is that I have not find either a way to create the magic that I was searching for. For all these reasons, even though it is very late in the semeester I rather shift to a more simple project - one that I know I can bring through, enjoy while doing and learn even though what I produce do not carry so much meaning as I would have like.
I post here some of the subjects of research and study I did throughout this last phase
piezo transcuders
reversing polarity of a magnet
magnetic field of a hand
Flat coil
Flat spiral coil calculator
Hall effect arduino sketch
speed of sound in common solid
Adjustable power supply instructable
Doing some research for a new project I found these references that inspired me.
Self organizing still life.
work form swiss artist Zimoun.