Machina mundi

a project for ‘garden of digital lies’ exhibition.

[The lab, foley st., dublin. April, 2008]

group exhibition with Alan Butler, Rob Costello, Benjamin Gaulon, K. Bear Koss, Tim Llyod, Jack Phelan, Sharon Phelan and Tim Redfern.

curated by K. Bear Koss.

This piece was made almost entirely of recycled antique clock parts. it started as something altogether different but kind of built itself in the end as i gave up on trying to control it. i learned that a large degree of design flexibility is needed when working with recycled/found objects. you’ve kinda got to jam with them for a bit. man. so what started up as a design for a clockwork tree of sorts ended up being a clockwork projector with an organic twist. i really love that jules verne/victoriana/steampunk look of glass optics and brass mechanical works, so i was delighted when i stumbled upon some old glass lenses. a bit of experimentation/fundamental level maths/trial&error and a super bright LED later, i had a nice focused image on the wall. the projection media is a transparent disc with tiny images and words printed on to it in a circle. a small microphone located within the plinth fed the mechanical sounds of the piece into a chain of effects that distorted and delayed the sounds to create a rich soundscape that seemed, to me, to be both soothing and disturbing at the same time. i’ll try and post an audio clip at some stage.