art > It Is What It Isn't
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It Is What It Isn't catwalk with Will
The pendulae powered Harmonograph can be seen here from the catwalk of the Hyde Park Art Center. video walkthrough
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It Is What It Isn't catwalk view
This central mechanical device is called a Harmonograph. It is a pendulae powered drawing machine whereby the drawings can be altered by raising and lowering the bob heights. Consideration of the phase of the frequencies is another zone of control.
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Harmonograph 3 (in situ)
Here is the view from the floor looking to the harmonograph in the foreground with the Telescope of the Indirect on the catwalk, and the root note "C" chime on the back wall.
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IT IS WHAT IT ISN'T scroll drawing
The scroll represents the void by never being fully available to the eye. On this 30 feet of paper the geometry of the VOID is laid out.
the Triangle: 3 philosophical manners- active, passive, and absent. relates to the head
the Pentagon: 5 types of love- Self, Lover, Absent, Family, and Friend. relates to the heart
the Heptagon: 7 harmonies- Do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti. relates to the Pelvis. Is a pair consonant or dissonant?
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Scroll detail with Plaster forms
Non-Platonic plaster forms pepper the space with meaning.
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Sequential Harmonographs
Each of these drawing is made by incrementally increasing the height of one pendulum bob one unit length. As you scan the space you can see how the drawings shift slightly with each step. Looking around the space, one can see particular "nodes" where the pendulae are moving at a whole number ratio to one another. This series of drawings show the physics of periodic motion as it relates to harmonic intervals (music).
Where these whole number harmonic points rest, there is a corresponding Chime tuned to the key of C placed directly below. Pulling the root note chime and the chime below another drawing, you can hear the interval depicted.
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Telescope of the Indirect on catwalk
Using the Pentagonal telescope (signifying the 5 types of love: Self, Lover, Absent, Family, and Friend), the viewer gets an isolated experience of the harmonographs hung around the crown of the space.
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Telescope of the Indirect (through lens)
harmonic ratio 5:6 as seen through the Telescope of the Indirect. The rest of the show fades away as you focus on the drawing.
