Looking Outwards Assignment 1 : Connie Dai

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gk9n-2lBb8&w=640&h=360]

There are three record shaped objects with certain visual patterns that are read by a machine and then translated into different sound patterns that then through manipulating and overlaying said sound patterns create something that resembles music. This project is interesting to me because I am interested in how the records have on them visual representations of sound. In a way it is almost as if one can “see” sound. I am also intrigued by how interweaving a few simple repetitive sound patterns one can create a tune that carries much more complexity and depth than any of the individual tracks would have alone. Perhaps if there were more records or a greater variation in the sounds that could be created more depth could have been achieved. Though I do feel that the aesthetics of the piece dialogue very well with the song they managed to create.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_jWA_o-Cvg&w=640&h=360]

This is a collection of seemingly perpetual motion wheels made with lighted bottles filled with sand. The visual effect created by the different wheels overlaying each other spinning (seemingly) forever on their own is very striking to me. The way the lights wink in and out as they overlap has a hypnotic quality that I find visually compelling. Though I feel that this piece does capture the timeless quality it aims to posses the presence of the sand was not immediately evident to me (and really only became evident after reading the artist statement). In fact, while this is a piece that I find very visually beautiful and somewhat hypnotic the greater message it seeks to communicate was somewhat lost to me until I had it spelled out to me – though to be fair the idea of eternity is not really an easy one to communicate.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjgVeJkdBn0&w=480&h=360]

This is basically a printer that prints latte art into one’s coffee. This is interesting to me because as a machine it is able to produce elaborate patterns with incredible accuracy that cannot be achieved through traditional means (i.e. by hand). The very nature of it is interesting because latte art is has a few traditional patterns that are always used (leaves, hearts, or some combination thereof) and though it is the same variation of these few patterns there will never be two that are perfectly identical because of the human element. With this printer any variety of patterns are at one’s proverbial fingertips but each pattern will essentially be identical to itself creating a strange paradox of having a very numerous variety that is exactly the same.