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| Aguas Vivas One thinks almost automatically, speaking of art and artificial life, of complexity generated within a virtual world. We, however, since 1991 have been building complex constructions with a state of equilibrium so fragile that even the slightest change can be enough to cause an unpredictable outcome. In Aguas Vivas this leads to an extremely rich variety of organic pictures, produced in realtime. Since our first vibratory project in 1993, sound, construction and scientific principles have been inseparable. Most of these works can be described as ´complex sprung constructions´. Our best-known work within this series is the Krachtgever (1994-1998), a wall of vibrating, rough wooden transport crates, filled with different materials, which received a first prize at the Prix Ars Electronica in 1998. This leaden, dynamic sculpture, robust of sound and material, exudes a sense of danger that is both audible and visual. The installation Aguas Vivas also concerns the phenomenon of vibrations, but is, at least mechanically, simpler than ever before. One steel container filled with black oil, one oscillating motor, eight springs. Different to our previous vibratory projects we started concentrating on the image rather than on the sound. Instead of creating a non-linear system algorithmically we decided to build it physically. The oil is sent into vibration and the surface starts to undulate, changing constantly. Light reflected onto the surface of the oil is fragmented, instantly. The results are captured with a video camera and projected on a wall. The images are extremely energetic, never constant and very hypnotic. They vary from orderly patterns to chaotic snatches, while the only sounds produced by the construction itself are the sloshing oil and some noise from the oscillating motor and the springs. The first prototype of the work dates back to 1996, and the project has been changed and expended upon several times since then. At the exhibition Midivisi (2001) in Hasselt, Belgium, we added electronically processed amplified sound for the first time. The container, light source (a white neon cross), camera and microphones were located in the same space. In an adjacent space, the video image was projected together with amplified, processed sounds that were captured from the moving container, all realized in realtime. At ISEA 2002, Nagoya, Japan we premiered a new set-up with two simultaneous sound-and-image projections. One projection is similar to that described above, the other shows still images captured in real time from the ever changing original material, revealing an otherwise hidden world. This visual transfiguration is accompanied by the sound, which, once more processed, appears as a kind of “audio-still”. The relatively static second layer forms a mesmerizing counterpoint to the energetic and hypnotizing effect of the other projection. Summer 2003 the work was shown at the exhibition “Del Mono Azul al Cuello Blanco” at the Lonja del Pescado, Alicante, Spain. Here we added a circle to the image of a cross. This does not only enrich the emerging light patterns, it also widens the psychological impact of the piece, reminding of the many images from contempory crusades of target marks in warfare, or simply of the traditional countdown at the start of a movie. References 1. “The Electric Swaying Orchestra”, Leonardo Music Journal, Vol. 6, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1996, pp. 116, 117 2. “Cyberarts98”, editors Hannes Leopoldseder, Christine Schöp, Springer Verlag Wien, New York, 1998, pp. 200-203 3. “STOP LOOK LISTEN”, catalogue, Sala de Exposiciones de la Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, 1999 4. “Del Mono Azul al Cuello Blanco”, Generalitat Valenciana, Valencia, 2003 pp 240-247 Special thanks to Metronom Electronic Arts Studio, Barcelona. |
