Pressure gradients form an ever-shifting topography of air, a topography patterned by the earth’s rotation on its axis and the Sun’s cyclic heating of air, land, and ocean. The pressure waves that are the consequence of the spinning earth and it’s proximity to the Sun are a tidal phenomenon with a 12 hour cycle. When…
Category: Kinetic Sculpture
A barometric pressure sensor weighs the atmosphere. A micro-controller and a digital to analogue converter (DAC) produce a variable voltage that corresponds to pressure changes. This control voltage (CV) is connected to a synthesizer and a servo motor. In the synthesizer barometric pressure, voltage, and pitch, rise and fall together. Several blades of grass have…
What is synthesis? A synthesizer produces control voltages (CV) and audible oscillations in electronic circuits. Its sounds are made of electricity. Unlike the amplification of vibrating strings, the synthesizer is a wholly electronic instrument. CVs can include audio frequency oscillations but are more often lower frequency signals or triggered voltage events. The modular synthesizer uses…
Treatment (Fleming Street), marks a shift in my practice. This work was created for the 2022 Cementa Festival. It was the first Expanded Synthesis installation. The first work that I’ve made specifically for a space that is not a gallery. The first time that I’ve shown work that comes from applying the knowledge that I’ve…
When I first described this project with synthesizers, I gave it the title ‘Synthesis’. I now realise that was a placeholder. There was a word missing. ‘Expanded Synthesis’ has the benefit of being more descriptive, more philosophical, and more poetic. My work with synthesizers is about expanding the functioning of synth modules. I am expanding…