Category: projects

composed of paper, wood, and electronics, ritornello exists as documentation of an ephemeral situation.

the work is programmed and the program alternates between repeated and varying elements. the code controls a fragile assemblage of various materials, and as it loops the assemblage decays.

while the work has no subject, its contents include the illusion of time’s control and the humility and wonder of making things in an atmosphere of change.

the 8 diaphanes are individual assemblage/drawings of casting paper embedded with electronics, each measuring approximately 9″x11″. featured in our august, 2011 solo exhibit, of light like intervals, each diaphane was made specifically for installation in the porch windows of the virginia weston besse gallery on martha’s vineyard.

inspired by the slowly changing, ambient natural light of the westward facing space, the architecturally transitional nature of the porch, and the color and textures of its wooden interior, we developed this project with the combining of indirect sunlight and electric light (LEDs), and the qualities of transition, in mind.

the electronics consist of a small micro-controller, modulating a single, tiny LED.

each micro-controller is programmed individually to persistently and slowly change the brightness of its LED in a process analogous the gentle shifts in ambient light of the space as sunlight is filtered through the lush foliage of a garden in front of it.

looking at a diaphane, one is aware of change occurring on its surface, resulting in different views of the work’s subtle and complex topography, but the specifics of what in fact has changed are not always clear. the paper composition of each diaphane varies in thickness, from the opaque to the see-through, permitting views of the outside to be integrated into each work.

we began making site visits to prepare for our show in early may, prior to the bloom of spring, and were captivated by the island’s natural light, and the intricate, twisting branches, and horizontality of its trees and brush. in subsequent visits we noted the forms created by the lines of branches interlaced with increasing foliage. while we never intended to portray these forms in our work the affinity between the island’s landscape and our compositions and mark marking is clear, and in the context of these works in this location, formative.

to see the entire flickr set, please go here.

a wall-mounted assemblage of casting paper embedded with electronics measuring approximately 3’x4′, 7744 is one of three works from our recent solo exhibit, of light like intervals, made specifically for installation on the porch of the virginia weston besse gallery on martha’s vineyard.

inspired by the slowly changing, ambient natural light of the westward facing space, the architecturally transitional nature of the porch, and the color and textures of its wooden interior, we developed this project with the combining of indirect sunlight and electric light (LEDs), and the qualities of transition, in mind.

the electronics consist of multiple small micro-controllers each controlling a single tiny LED, each embedded and interconnected by thin, white wire.

the network of micro-controllers are programmed individually to persistently and slowly change the brightness of their LEDs in a process analogous the gentle shifts in ambient light of the space as sunlight is filtered through the lush foliage of a garden in front of it.

looking at 7744, one is aware of change occurring on the surface of the piece, resulting in different views of the works subtle and complex topography, but the specifics of what in fact has changed are not always clear.

we began making site visits to prepare for our show in early may, prior to the bloom of spring, and were captivated by the island’s natural light, and the intricate, twisting branches, and horizontality of its trees and brush. in subsequent visits we noted the forms created by the lines of branches interlaced with increasing foliage. while we never intended to portray these forms in our work the affinity between the island’s landscape and our compositions and mark marking is clear, and in the context of these works in this location, formative.

to view the entire flickr set, go here.

charge-shift nos. 1 and 2, are two sculptures made of micro-controllers, custom software, electrical components, and monofilament wire, measuring approximately 4’x2’x10″, and suspended inside of two display areas on the porch of the virginia weston besse gallery on martha’s vineyard. they were included in our recent solo exhibit entitled of light like intervals.

inspired by the slowly changing, ambient natural light of the westward facing space, the architecturally transitional nature of the porch, and the color and textures of its wooden interior, charge-shift, along with 7744, and 8 diaphanes, was developed with the combining of indirect sunlight and electric light (LEDs), and the qualities of transition, in mind.

the electronics consist of multiple small micro-controllers each controlling a single tiny LED, each interconnected and suspended/positioned within the work by thin, white conductive wire.

the network of micro-controllers are programmed individually to persistently and slowly change the brightness of their LEDs in a process analogous the gentle shifts in ambient light of the space as sunlight is filtered through the lush foliage of a garden in front of it.

looking at charge-shift, one is aware of change occurring on the surfaces of the piece, resulting in different views of the composition, but the specifics of what in fact has changed are not always clear.

we began making site visits to prepare for our show in early may, prior to the bloom of spring, and were captivated by the island’s natural light, and the intricate, twisting branches, and horizontality of its trees and brush. in subsequent visits we noted the forms created by the lines of branches interlaced with increasing foliage. while we never intended to portray these forms in our work the affinity between the island’s landscape and our compositions and mark marking is clear, and in the context of these works in this location, formative.

to view the entire flickr set, go here.

from of light like intervals, our recent solo exhibit on martha’s vineyard, august 2011.

suspended from the ceiling, in the middle of the gallery, transient, still uses custom software to analyze live input from an iSight, and attempts to recreate what it sees using a limited palette of mono-chromatic ellipses. when the software concludes that is has created a reasonable facsimile of what it has registered through its camera, the program pauses to present the composition rendered by the software through an LED projector that shines its images through a construction of small motors, and copper/monofilament wire onto a piece of mylar.

the shade of the ellipses indicate the relative brightness of the objects in the scene.

the background color shifts between orange, yellow, blue, and green.

the computer running the software sat on the floor above the gallery. the piece was connected to that computer through the visible opening in the ceiling.

one theme of this exhibit was the transformation of kinetics into electro-luminescence and back. this work, situated in the middle of the exhibit, was composed of aspects of all of the works around it – from materials to variants on code, and was based on a feedback loop where, in real time, light becomes motion and motion becomes light.

for still images, please visit our flickr gallery

from of light like intervals, our recent solo exhibit on martha’s vineyard, august 2011.

sustained contemplation offset is a floor piece made of two LCD monitors [one mounted vertically, and one mounted horizontally – the horizontal monitor was rescued and brought back to use by us for the show], a PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom) security camera, two mac minis, and custom software.

in this work, the vertical monitor is displaying a screen saver called flurry, which we made some subtle changes to. a PTZ security camera is positioned in front of the vertical LCD monitor and programed to track the movement of flurry on the screen. the PTZ is focused tightly on the screen saver. the live feed from the camera is fed into custom software that filters the incoming stream and shows the images that it selects in a varying rhythm on the recycled/specially adapted horizontal lcd.

for still images please visit our flickr gallery.

of light like intervals, our current solo show, opens this sunday at the featherstone center for the arts on martha’s vineyard. our main concept for this exhibit is the transformation of kinetic energy into electro-luminescence and back. the reception is from 4-6.

we’ve been working all summer on many new projects, including a series of works in casting paper with embedded electronics, related to the piece above. we’ll post documentation of the new works soon.

robot radio/transient, set is for lea bertucci and ed bear’s ExiTrip project, more documentation on this work and others can be found on their site.

ExiTrips are functional, salvaged, obsolete iTrips (low range fm transmitters for ipods), fitted with a stereo mini-plug and battery pack. the theme of lea and ed’s project is creative re-purposing of obsolete consumer electronics. we found out about the project from free103point9 and submitted a proposal.

after noticing that walking around the Exitrips seemed to affect their transmission we decided to use the 5 ExiTrips lea and ed sent us as sensors. we were able to read each ExiTrip’s signal strength with an fm tuner chip from Silicon Industries. we used the variations to create a live audio work entitled robot radio, that was premiered within another new project entitled transient, set – both of which you can see and hear above.

each of robot radio’s ExiTrips was outfitted with a new, longer antenna sized to its selected broadcast frequency and encased in acrylic. in addition to contributing audio, the ExiTrips became a sculptural element of transient, set. in transient, set, software processed live video from a resurrected, yet glitchy iSight camera and projected the resulting two dimensional, black and white imagery through an assemblage of materials that reflected and refracted the light, providing bits of color. the long, thick, bare copper antenna’s or robot radio, the monofilament used to suspend them, and their acrylic encasements were a part of that assemblage.

the software for both works, developed in different programming languages (max/msp w/arduino for robot radio, processing for transient, set), used similar logic, that involved processing input data and developing patterns in response to it. the programmatic consistencies between the works created shifting perspectives on their relationship from those of alignment (one work) to separation/individuation as qualities of the works changed in response to environmental conditions, including the movements and location of visitors on site.

**this may be obvious but “robot radio” will sound quite differently depending on what you’re listening to it through.

we posted some images on our flickr pages. for more info about this and other ExiTrip projects please visit the exitrip homepage. for our detailed project description go here.