...

"A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd." 

- Max Lucado

Studio Experiments

Playing with magnets... (I just realised you can also hear what I was listening to in the studio...)

A new work underway:

I bought some silicon hose to experiment with in water, but discovered that it reacts really nicely to a 'flick' on one end - the wave of motion then runs the entire length of the hose. So started testing to turn this into a work, based on the 'flick' closing a circuit.

Test for contact circuitry - when the hose is flicked the alfoil makes contact, causing the motor to turn...

Nutting out the circuit to run the piece, final version:

Setting up to test the above circuit:

Tested and proven that it works! Yay!

I will post some images once the work is actually at a photogenic stage. LW.

Delicious words

One of the great advantages of going to conferences and lectures is the high incidence of words spoken that are simply delicious! Just saying them is enjoyable...

extemporise

- verb (used without object) - 1) to improvise; 2) to do or manage something in a makeshift way.

enceintes

- noun - 1) a wall or enclosure, as of a fortified place; 2) the place enclosed (this is particularly interesting as it means pregnant in French).

teleological

- adj - of or pertaining to teleology, the philosophical doctrine that final causes, design and purpose exist in nature.

heuristic

- adj - 1) stimulating interest as a means of furthering investigation; 2) encouraging a person to learn; 3) based on experimentation.

mendacity

- noun - 1) falsehood; 2) an instance of lying.

phantasm

- noun - 1) an apparition or specter; 2) a creation of the imagination.

inchoate

- adj - 1) not yet fully developed; 2) just begun; 3) lacking order.

nascent

- adj - beginning to exist or develop.

Yum!

*all meanings taken from dictionary.com, somewhat edited in places...

Just images

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(all on iphone)

The ultimate...

So, what do you get when you have a German artist, an Austrian artist, a Canadian artist, and an Australian artist, post-experimental-arts-conference, in a pub?

Well... this:

"Disciplinarity according to Petra" by LW

Oh my!

I haven't yet had time to absorb or consolidate the three (and about to be four) days spent at the NIEA Experimental Arts Conference. But this! Wow.

These ambiguities, redundances, and deficiencies recall those attributed by Dr. Franz Kuhn to a certain Chinese encyclopedia entitled Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge. On those remote pages it is written that animals are divided into (a) those that belong to the Emperor, (b) embalmed ones, (c) those that are trained, (d) suckling pigs, (e) mermaids, (f) fabulous ones, (g) stray dogs, (h) those that are included in this classification, (i) those that tremble as if they were mad, (j) innumerable ones, (k) those drawn with a very fine camel's brush hair, (l) others, (m) those that have just broken a flower vase, (n) those that resemble flies from a distance.

- Jorge Luis Borges, "The Analytical Language of John

Wilkins" in "Other Inquisitions 1937-1952", 1964, p. 103.

These are a few of my favourite things...

I was recently lucky enough to have had the pleasure of a wonderful conversation with a like-minded creative soul. Over a couple of hours, we covered a vast amount of ground, exchanging artistic inspirations and stories. It made me aware of how much one can gain from sharing those things that inspire us as practicing creatives. Thus, with this in mind, please find some links to some very inspiring things...

...the genius (and perhaps madness) that is Theo Jansen...

...and the equally incredible Arthur Ganson...

This talk by Ganson is fantastic – he discusses his work with sincerity and eloquence. Well worth a watch.

The Long Now Foundation, which commissioned the above Ganson talk, has an incredible, and extremely far-sighted, project underway.

Back on Australian soil, I have recently rediscovered Richard Goodwin. His explorations of ideas of the prosthetic in relation to the body, and exoskeletons, are particularly interesting.

And a recently received link, for something a tad lighter...

Enjoy!

LW