丝
Analog Media&sound Installation, 2022)
Pronounced like a sharp, prolonged S, the Chinese 丝 can mean
It is made up of a repetition of the root character that defines a family of words related to interwoven structures. It appears in expressions that describe weaving, networks, knots, (inter-)connections and that stress the strength contained within its smallest elements.
纟
编织: weave; 线: thread; 绢: thick but loosely woven silk; 纱: yarn; 绳: rope, string; 绪: clue, thread of thought; 结: knot; 绞: entangle, intricate; 纽: twist; 纠缠: intertwine, entangle, badgering; 缭绕: wreathe, winding, linger; 缝: sew.
Collaboration credit:
Matthias Neckermann - media duo
Erik Cereghino - sound system design
Ethan Johnson - sound system setup
丝 is a multimedia installation that spreads itself into the gallery space like a mycelium. Its electronic body is made up of screens, cameras, projectors, microphones, speakers, lights, adapters, network switches, dongles and all the technologies it needs to compute. A nude, it is on full display without hiding any of its components. Cables and wires wind around its structure creating a living sculpture that
generates its own self contained music and dance.
As we coexist more and more virtually on either side of networked screens we lose touch with the processes and infrastructure that define our modern existence. From the internet that snakes along the ocean floor to algorithms that define what we get to see. While we might not be sensible to those background threads, we can feel its resulting texture. Without being able to name it, we sense what is in the ether, what remains when the frequencies cancel each other as we listen for the ghost in the machine.
丝 seeks to weave a net that is embodied in its technology yet tangible in the interactions of its parts. Akin to Kenneth Collins and his designs for Temporary Distortion it is as sculptural as it is functional. Focussing on the operations of its individual parts 丝 seeks to highlight their interplay rather than any design that the technology is just a vessel of. Like Stephen Reich’s Pendulum Music that plays through the feedback of swinging microphones over speakers this piece is an ode to our technological environment. With its multiple in- and outputs it invites the audience to investigate and discover the unseen connections and thereby effectively making them an integral part of the network as well.
As we coexist more and more virtually on either side of networked screens we lose touch with the processes and infrastructure that define our modern existence. From the internet that snakes along the ocean floor to algorithms that define what we get to see. While we might not be sensible to those background threads, we can feel its resulting texture. Without being able to name it, we sense what is in the ether, what remains when the frequencies cancel each other as we listen for the ghost in the machine.
丝 seeks to weave a net that is embodied in its technology yet tangible in the interactions of its parts. Akin to Kenneth Collins and his designs for Temporary Distortion it is as sculptural as it is functional. Focussing on the operations of its individual parts 丝 seeks to highlight their interplay rather than any design that the technology is just a vessel of. Like Stephen Reich’s Pendulum Music that plays through the feedback of swinging microphones over speakers this piece is an ode to our technological environment. With its multiple in- and outputs it invites the audience to investigate and discover the unseen connections and thereby effectively making them an integral part of the network as well.
