equations and definitions

this upgrade process, to go to a phd, is really forcing me to get a better grip on exactly what i'm trying to do with this 'project'.

here's the latest break-down of my understanding:

the application of

commonly available monitoring and recording technologies

to

culturalised elements of botanic nature

in order to

extract information 

that is translated into 

audio/visual outputs

this is the dominant theme of my work thus far. 

there is an experimentalist aspect, in the construction of these kinetic networks, that is at once the process and the actual art object. the audio/visual outputs are not an end product but just one part of the entire network.

i'm hoping that by refining my practice down into this simple equation i can now define my work more clearly and also set about producing more refined, considered and better executed works.

applying the microscope and the telescope

in what feels like some sort of gentle epiphany, i've come to realise that the focus of my research is rather more refined that i had been imagining. when i look back over my work, which was a happy by-product of my application for a phd, it is clear to me that while my over-arching interest is in a broad re-interpretation of nature, my actual creative material output is more specifically focused on an exploration of technology as a filter and mediator of our relationship to nature. and it is this particular intellectual curiosity that is the driving theme of this project.

this is a rather exciting discovery as it refines the focus of my work and allows for a more directed line of inquiry.

looking back over the last couple of years to exhibited works and even works that were abandoned, incomplete or put on the back burner, it is apparent that they predominantly use various forms of technology to engage various forms of nature in order to extract or elicit information. and it is the construction of these experiment-like assemblages, together with their extracted information, that is the work. 

Network 2008 - spheres of wood, each with network cable, apparently seeking out a connection to a network plug, one visible on the trunk of the old tree.

Off The Record_An Aeolian Symphony 2008 - old turntable arms applied to the severed and spinning tops of logs, apparently extracting the sound from specific growth rings. Created rhythmic white noise/static sound.

 Tap 2008 - audio jack connected into central growth ring, extracted 'information' played through amplifier. Created low hum sound.

More recent works have seen a webcam monitoring a bonsai, a pseudo-EEG monitor connected via networked telecommunications cables to terrariums of garden plants, and recorded sounds of leaves and branches being broken by hand played back at slowed speeds. The connecting thread with the works is this focus on technologies being used to extract, or apparently extract, information from things that could be deemed to be 'natural', such as plants, leaves and logs.

understanding exactly what 'natural' objects i am using, and what forms of 'technology' i am choosing to use in these artworks will require analysis. but i feel confident that this renewed understanding of my work will enable a more refined artistic output.

review, rethink, reboot

yesterday i went to plead my case for an upgrade of my postgrad - from mfa to phd. a rather nerve-wracking process, but the unexpected positive side of the experience was the chance to collate my art from the last 18 months and review it as a collective body of work. it brought into sharper relief some of the themes running through my work as well as some of the weaknesses with it. of course, the feedback provided by the professors after my presentation also assisted with this process and as a result, i find myself refreshed and reinvigorated. 

 Rhythm Code 2009

Plane of Composition 2010

 HigherBreeds 2010

it was especially interesting to reconsider the conceptual premise i had been assuming was underpinning my work, after some of the feedback. 

where i go from here, will of course depend partly on whether i am granted the opportunity to extend my research into a phd, but i am feeling that i have been granted an opportunity to rethink the underlying impetus of my work. for example, it is more apparent now that i am only dealing with 'nature' in a very cursory sort of way. it feels perhaps more reflective of my practice to argue that i am dealing with networks. networks that incorporate some elements of a mediated nature perhaps, but the treatment of 'nature' in my work is not at the forefront of its operations as much as i had been thinking it was. whether i push it more into this realm, for example by injecting more of a natural focus, i need to reflect on some more. perhaps my interest does in fact lie with networks, and 'nature' is merely an aspect of thinking about networks and it is this approach that is more in-keeping with my creativity.

i do know that this particular body of work has been a very productive period for me and provides me with a jumping off point to aspire to a stronger and more refined creative output. the desire to step up my game and make better work is ever present.

 

cytoarchitecture_darwinian branches

so, it turns out that cutting circles of glass, with no experience whatsoever, and sanding them into perfectly accurate shapes, then plunging them into articulated depressions in soft, green wood... well... that's a rather difficult prospect. 
after some dangerous glass splinterings, several cracked attempts and much expletives, i decided to abort that idea and place my hope in the darwinian principle of evolution - that from the occasional creative error, or aberration, advancement may occur. and with that philosophical mindset, i sat back, looked around my studio, reconsidered the ideas in the work and waited for a new creative solution.
and there it was, in a milk crate. a pile of about 20 large computer circuit boards that i had collected over a year ago from the side of the road.
the symmetry was like some sort of resonance - logs cut up from trees (themselves smaller parts of a broader 'environmental' network), discarded on the side of road; circuit boards, cut out from larger networked computer systems, discarded on the side of the road. bang! suitable collage companions.
mind you, they were still difficult to cut, and in the short time frame i had they are not as perfectly snug as one would ideally like, but they work suitably well. i hand cut about 6, breaking many coping saw blades before realising my electric jigsaw could do the task. that said, the jigsaw blade got blunt pretty quick and the last, little circles for the bundles of branch segments was cut almost exclusively by the friction of the flat, teethless saw blade.

these shots are actually from the gallery - Techno Park Studios. the lighting is a bit unkind for photography, especially for my little camera - but you get the gist.

so there it is!
i will need to take some better documentation photographs, perhaps enlist stuart for the task (http://littlesumo.wordpress.com/), as he has taken some great photos of my work previously (www.kentwilson.net).

i'm quite partial to the bundles of branch segments. i feel there might be some more work i could do in that vein. i'm still unsure as to whether i should have created a 'ground' for the piece. in the past, with these sort of sculptural works i have put down bark chips or gravel or fake grass. but in this instant i wanted it simple and have ultimately left it thus.

now, the work apparently needs no title for this show, but i always like to title my work so i've decided to call this group of sculptures - 'synapse'.