Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Pendulum, movies



Just to warn: The two movies do not show the reality of image and movement, because the camera processing is not compatible with the speed of RGB LED pulsation. In contrast, the photos below are accurate.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Pendulum, in movement








Pendulum, 2007-2008








These photos were also taken in the P74 gallery in Ljubljana, during my solo exhibition Scanner and Pendulum.

I named my fourth larger kinetic object Pendulum, 2007-2008. This machine again uses the POV's ability of producing an almost holographic illusion. It shows a photo of drags writing in the subject's body. Kafka wrote of an old institutions' apparatus in his The Penal Colony (In der Strafkolonie, October 1914).

A Slovenian company in Tržič developed the software and electronic part for the object, based on POV during the years 2006-2007.

Scanner III, movies

Scanner III, details



These are the more detailed views of Scanner, when it was exhibited together with Pendulum in the Centre amd Gallery P74 in Ljubljana from April 15-May 8, 2008.

Scanner III (images)



Scanner contains four images. Three of them represent a hole, each from a slightly different perspective to give an efect of rotation and absorption of its viewer (subject). Scanning ends with a photo of wreath made out of roots.

Scanner III, 2005-2008

The third so called scanner machine I developed in collaboration with three Slovenian companies.

This latest scanner, 2005-2008, is a larger, more massive and monstrous variant of the first two types. Its scale is well grounded. The former motor for car wipers was replaced by a powerful industrial motor that offers programed and variable motion. Here I wanted to get rid of a surface with projection. The screen and neon light that moves linearly upwards and downwards and illuminates and exposes an image (like in the previous two scanners) are gone and replaced by RGB LED diodes and POV.

Therefore this sistem is a one axis, linear motion, full RGB collor POV. You can upload any kind of image into its flash drive to be shown in resolution of 212 x 212 pixles. Its asinhronos electric motor drive is controled by a frequecy regulator and its RGB LED line achives speed of 4 m/s. It needed to be 13 times faster to see the whole image floating in midair. I used arduino and some code in linux to control a digital camera that has a shutter time of 0.8 s to fully capture the whole image and later on show it on a projector.

When the machine stops the image disappears, evaporates, like a fabrication of fiction or an incarnation of emptiness. An empty point of identification is established: when somebody detaches him/herself from the role assigned to them, they can assume or occupy an empty position (eg jump into void, a hole or "to be in-between position"). A rupture emerges, a tearing with rigid structures and bonds of identity, like that of paternal authority, religious tenet, disciplinary regimes of family or nationalism.
The birthplace of subject is thus of key importance here. So I dug out a black hole and roots were found.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

On somebody's path, Skofja Loka, april 2008






The beech tree was set up in the middle of the town square in Skofja Loka. It was pulled out of the forest with the help of ranger Logonder and transported to a nearby farm for preparation. The action during the installation of the tree was surreal, as it performed a dance together with mechanical arm in mid air. At one point the tree was aligned with the second floor windows. It was then turned around and put on the ground as an interruption, thrown on somebody's path.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Roots and rupture, 2007-2008








I was strolling the forests of Skofja Loka in december 2007, when I came across a fallen beech tree crossing my path like a colossal road block. It was over 25 meters long and over a 1000 kg heavy. I climbed on the trunk of the tree and lied there. This find initiated my search for roots and I ended up digging myself a black hole, literally. The redness of the soil was reminiscent of a wound, like a real rupture.



Sunday, April 27, 2008

Mehanična knjiga / Mechanical book, 2007

Leta 2007 sem se s konceptom mehanične knjige prijavila na natečaj za avtorsko knjigo umetnika. Tukaj je krajša verzija:


Zanima me stvaritev mehanične knjige. Knjiga je skupek vgrajenih mehanizmov, ki kot elektronski škratje in mehanični mikroorganizmi izza besed in strani determinirajo prikaz in strukturo knjižnih partikularizmov, njihov videz in izpisovanje, tudi vsebino. V knjigo je vmeščena lumino-kinetična, mehanična dimenzija.


Mehanizmi izpisujejo besede in narekujejo ritmiko branja. Utrjene navade branja so postavljene pod vprašaj. Do kod lahko posameznik sledi določenemu načinu prikazovanja in razbiranja besed? Kdaj vizualni aspekt prevlada literarni značaj in obratno in kdaj se ujameta? Besede se kažejo zdaj počasi, zdaj hitro, od zgoraj navzdol, od spodaj navzgor, besede izginejo. Koliko se ob tem ohranijo v spominu? Takšen 'govor' knjige lahko poudarja ali pride v konflikt s procesom bralčeve imaginacije, ki se ob čitanju knjige odvija. Obenem se knjiga ponekod razpleta neodvisno, brez sodelovanja uporabnika. Ker je izpis besed, struktura strani, celo samo listanje vključeno v proces avtomatizacije, se lahko zgodi, da se branje knjige kdaj ujame v neskončno zanko ponavljanj. Na nekaterih delih je knjigo potrebno brati v temi. Drugod se tekst odvije hitro naprej in mu ni mogoče slediti. Ker je mehanične narave, se knjiga lahko pokvari in čitanje ni mogoče. Morda je v kakšno stran vgrajen 'defekt'. Knjiga je spremenljiv objekt.


In 2007 I submitted the concept for a mechanical book to the artist's authorial book competition. Here is a short outline:


I want to make a mechanical book. The book comprises built-in mechanisms that determine the presentation and structure of literary particularisms, their appearance, write out and contents, much like electronic and mechanical 'microorganisms' behind words and pages. A mechanical, lumino-kinetic dimension is embedded in the book.


Mechanisms write out words and dictate the rhythmics of reading. The usual reading habits are questioned. How far can one follow a certain way of words presenting themselves? When does the visual aspect prevail over the literal one or vice versa or where do both meet? The words appear slowly at one time, quickly at another, sometimes from above down, sometimes they disappear – what is the effect of this on one's memory and understanding? The book 'speaks' and accents or clashes with the process of the reader's imagination that untwines while reading. At times, the book reels off independently, without the user's participation. Because the write out of the words, the structure of the page and turning the pages over are a process of automation, the reading of such book can easily become caught in an endless snare of repetition. Parts of the book should be read in the dark. Other parts come to pass fast forward, so one cannot follow them. Because of its mechanical character the book can breakdown, making the reading impossible. Perhaps a 'defect' is built in one of the pages. The book is a transformative object.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Dogma II, 2004-2005



Dogma II's mechanism

Out of my first mechanical venture, scanner Dogma II came, a machine proceeding from the logic of an optical reader. Positioned in the dark, scanner illumines and unveils the image part by part, hence alluding to the gist of taboo, to something problematic. The example of such is an absolute, a dogma, an oppressive authority, and herein lies my trauma. Therefore, demystification was needed. At first sight, Dogma II is not far from a praying machine. It wants to come close to a hologram, a light image, containing the power of illusion. Well, the machine behind the flatness is a visible mechanism that produces and directes the image, which in part is a re-enactment of the egg scene from the film Angel Heart, 1987.

Dogma II was first shown at my solo exhibition Illusions from the remotest times in Gallery Ivan Grohar, Škofja Loka in 2005.


Sketch, 2005







 

Sketch, 2005
latex, LEGO bricks, 30 x 17 x 7 cm


A small sketch is made out of LEGO bricks and latex for a machine that has yet to be realized. Here valves control and open passages for the flow of compressed air that in turn causes the transformation of a two-dimensional plane into a relief, giving it the appearance of third dimension. Reserved for manifesting images or representations, the picture plane thus turns into a morphing membrane. With a realistic representation shown on such surface, the moving transformations and stretching of the plane from two dimensions to the third would finally cause the image to become abstract and unrecognizable.