Scale
Scale 2002
Found wood, electronics, fishing line, audio amplifiers, piezo mics, wire.
Scale presents a struggling vertebraic object which scratches the surface it is mounted to. This object is always in motion but not locomotive: as the viewer approaches the object it moves faster but cannot escape its situation. Placed along the walls are 20 amplifier boxes, which broadcast the sounds of the object's attempts at self-determined ambulation. Under the objects outer branches sound is picked up by contact microphones that are linked to the amplifiers through a network of audio cables. The reactive and kinetic components are comprised of a light sensor embedded in the object, servo motors, and a micro-controller. Together these elements make up a elementary sensing and responding system, alluding to our own more complex internal systems of perception and action, yet stripped bare exposing itself as a network where the signal's path can be traced.