[30.10.06] The distance between what we have and what we need

I came across this at work today whilst I was compiling ANAT's email digest. The Distance Between What We Have And What We Need is a remarkable installation by Tavares Strachan comprising of a four-ton block of ice which is displayed in a specially built freezer and is maintained by a solar energy system which helps keep block intact. The work is currently on exhibition in a gallery in Miami, to later travel to Europe and eventually the rest of the world. The prevailing motivation behind Tavares' work is to draw attention to climate change and the current state of the environment.

There's something strangely forboding about a block of ice being carried around the world and put on display to draw awareness the array of dire ecological situations currently besetting the planet - the the melting of the polar caps and Greenland ice sheets for one. There's also something very sombre about this spectacle - like an endangered part of the earth has been captured and preserved like the last of an animal species for future generations to see.

The title of the work couldn't be anymore profound.

http://www.distancebetween.org

[1.8.06] Research Progress: Ecotone

Today I didn't have much time to experiement with sine waves, so instead my thought turned to working on an idea for an installation instead. Working under the title of Ecotone, I am interested in constructing an environment where the physical and acoustical properties of resonant objects are effected by variations in temperature and humidity. The term Ecotone relates to a point of transition between two ecological systems, for example think of a rural environment merging into an urban one.

I will set up a series of objects, or vessels if you will, (vases, glasses, cooking trays, etc.) and attach contact mics inside them - one to receive an input signal and the other for the output siganl (a feedback signal will provide sound). Then once the feedback signal (or threshold) is audible and consistent, I will set up an automated temperature/humidity control and let the process and the room do the work. It is going to be a lot of trial and error, but at least this an official point of departure.