|
The power and ubiquity of technology
has bred complacency among those who use it regularly (i.e.
virtually everyone in the developed world). While most would
agree that we should not place too much faith in machines,
in reality we can't help taking for granted that the light
will go on when we flip the switch, the car will start when
we turn the key, the plane won't fall from the sky, ….
Yet the capacity of machines to misbehave is endless.
In fact, it's their nature.
While this is a consequence of the laws of thermodynamics,
it should be obvious that the engineer, the programmer, the
operator, the maintenance person, all must work to coax the
assemblage of metal, plastic, and electrons into performing
the desired function, and keep performing it. Tossing the
components of a personal computer into a bag and shaking won't
yield a personal computer. Normal use, however, (of a PC,
a drill press, a blender), will lead to erratic
behavior and, ultimately, failure.
I'm fascinated by this tension between
what we want, and expect, a machine to do, and what the machine
"wants" to do. I call it "machine tension,"
or just "McTension." I explore McTension in my work
by making things that behave unexpectedly, though not strictly
randomly. While the behavior may be easier to infer for some
of my machines than for others, they all tend to have an unpredictable
(or, at least, difficult-to-predict) element to them. Whether
it's calculating prime numbers on electromechanical counters,
causing falling dominoes to stand themselves up again, or
generating organized sequences of clicks on a relay (but at
random intervals), the effect is simultaneously familiar and
surprising.
There are several other themes which
run through my work, though all may not be present in any
one piece:
- Pseudo-randomness isn't difficult
to achieve, but also isn't very interesting, so I strive to
make my work entertaining, sometimes even whimsical, rather
than impenetrable.
- I often use industrial/commercial
components to reinforce the relationship between McTension
and the technology we encounter every day. Some of these components
will be familiar to the viewer (e.g. the counters), while
some may not be (relays), even though all of them play key,
if hidden, roles in our daily lives. I'm also drawn to their
no-nonsense appearance, especially in a sculptural context.
And, you can't beat "industrial-grade" for reliability,
a big plus with kinetic sculpture.
- Sound is a common (though usually
irrelevant) characteristic of most machines, but an important
part of many of my pieces. It not only tells the "viewer"
(who might not actually be looking at the piece) that something
is happening, it underscores the connection between the sculpture
and traditional machinery. It also provides a dimension not
present in silent artwork: a piece can stimulate whether or
not it's actually being observed. The pseudo-random ticks
and clicks provide an interesting (even relaxing) ambience.
I call works where sound plays as important a role as motion,
"acoustinetic."
I consider many of my pieces studies
for much larger works for public spaces. The drama that would
come from a large-scale installation would enhance McTension
in ways not possible on the more intimate scale on which I
normally work. I've designed pieces with thousands of relays
or hundreds of servos that would be tens of feet square or
hundreds of feet long.
|
