Development: Don't Cut the Violet Wire..!
You hear the clock ticking.. it’s on the silver screen, what does our hero do…
Fig. 1, Start of an unfolding idea.
Today I wanted to see bring about an idea I have been toying with since the development of the work ‘Concrete Lampshade 2020’. So I set about constructing a housing (fig.1) to further develop an idea that uses materials to create a metaphor for existence.
The idea of making this readout display (fig.2) is to test the notion of appearance through being.
Fig. 2 An Ammeter, A device for measuring current flow in amps within an electrical circuit.
When we think of what being is, it is always in opposition to something. Life could be viewed as confronting pressures, systems and environments that act as forces that exemplify opposition to being. Whether that is experienced through internal drives to succeed, attain or strive to change ones setting. Through experiencing atmospheres, terrains or geographical differences. Or we could identify other oppositions and pressures that show up in socio-political, hegemonic or systemic oppressive constructs that are contrived to disenfranchise the I, the we, the individual.
So how do we know that we exist. What is essence, consciousness or spirit?
In concrete lampshade, I hope to come to answer this in some way or at least open up a place for debate around objects that grasp this essence of being into systems that are used outside of their purpose yet contain and house the notion of being. I have set about making a current measuring device (Fig. 3) that will read the current flow on an obfuscated electric lamp. My aim is to experiment with different style lamps too.
What if an element of a lightbulb represented that which exists inside yet cannot be seen?
What materials could ‘stand in for’ that which has no way of being measured?
Fig. 4 The striped down components that will fit into a shuttering mould.
Fig. 3 A toroidal magnet with a circuit measures current flow within a live cable.
This measurement generates the reading on the LED display.
I am looking to make a second ‘concrete lampshade’, and also trying a different style of light. I want to work with the exposed parts of the fixture. (fig. 4 & 5)
Fig. 5 The Fluorescent lamp that will make my second concrete lampshade.
The next part is to make a shuttering so to encase the bulb in concrete. I have done this to varying levels of success, and have to be mindful that there are fragile parts that, if mis-handled could set in a way that put the project beyond any maintenance or salvage.
The shuttering is made from deconstructed and salvaged transport pallett (fig. 6). The wood is rough enough and contains enough accidental properties that lend to the overall aesthetic of the industrial element of the look that the poured concrete should have.
Fig. 6 The encasement. At this pint I am checking the depth of the component parts within the housing.
Fig. 7 One step away from the pouring of the concrete.
Fig. 8 The pour is complete.
As we see in Fig. 7, there is just enough room for the bulb, firstly I don’t want to create to much encasement around the bulb.
Whether anybody knows, it important for me to know that beyond, almost with touching distance there is a light bulb within. So the lamp is only just submerged ( fig.8)
Like the same way we consider our own bodies as an encasement of that which dwells within, I want to try and recreate that same almostness between that which is and that which cannot be accessed. The light bulb is. The wiring is. The electron flow is, all these elements matter as part of something that constitutes the environmental, the organic, the systematic, the orchestrated and the definite.
Fig. 9 The first testing of the current reading apparatus.
Evaluation:
In the video below (fig. 10) we can see the result of what has resulted in this week of experimentation. We have a way of demonstrating and symbolizing that which ‘is.’
My intentions are to maybe record this live and broadcast the electronic display on YouTube Live or some other medium. Recording the current flow over a timed theatre style “cue” from a lighting desk over a week would be the most elaborate way of doing this. I have even set up a test run using OBS (Open Broadcast Software) fig. 11. I am thinking of doing this as my project in public display. The premise would be to see if the element can endue the process of being on during the cue rising from off (0%) to full intensity (100%) over a fixed period of time without overheating or otherwise failing to work under some conditional feature within the circuit.
Fig. 10 The cast removed leaves the lamp working.
Fig. 11 Testing the OBS software from my laptop.