Nos. 1 - 6 (2011)

Scott Hessels

Below are six prototypes for kinetic artworks that use force and movement in nature as an integral part of their form.
Either directly or through computational sensing, each of these pieces is shaped by interaction with the natural environment.

These works were conceived during an artist residency at ISIS Arts in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, UK in July 2011.
Renderings by Alexander Davies.

Mediated Earthwork No. 1
Natural Force: Tides
In realtime, actual tidal data causes a large wheel to move five meters (the amount of sea change) across the room every six hours.
Inside the wheel are gears that cause a second interior wheel with frames of animation to spin.
Traveling with the wheel is a projector facing the frames.
As the tides move in and recede, the wheels create a film of the stages of the moon to appear,
crossing the room back and forth at the same rate as the sea.

Mediated Earthwork No. 2 (The Discovery Channel)
Natural Force: Reflection and rippling
A row of cameras and projectors, placed in pairs side by side, are pointed down into a reflecting pool.
An image from an internet search on ‘rose’ is projected onto the water’s surface.
The adjacent camera captures this reflection, transmits it to the next projector
where it is once again projected, captured, and moved to the next projector and camera.
Each time, the mediation deteriorates the image on the water’s surface.



Mediated Earthwork No. 3 (Architectural Lavalamp)
Natural Force: Sunlight movement, heat
Colored waxes are contained in reservoir ‘bulbs’ that have convex lenses built into their design.
The bulbs lead up into long narrow tubes that cover the side of a building.
As sunlight warms the waxes, they rise and the architecture fills with color at mid-day,
the waxes receding back to the reservoirs in the evening.

Mediated Earthwork No. 4a and 4b (A Stream Remembers Sunlight)
Natural Force: Stream’s surface, flow, caustic optics
A stream is filmed that no longer receives sunlight due to industrialization covering it.
The changing surface of the water is mapped computationally;
using programming and virtual light, the reflections are calculated based on the
sun’s angle on the day the industrialization was completed.
This data then recreates the play of sunlight on the stream the last day it received natural light.

4a. Interior Site Design:
In a gallery installation, the stream is displayed on a floor-mounted screen,
the obstruction is shown through a historical photograph, the play of light is displayed on a screen above it.

4b. Site-Specific Design:
The play of light is projected above the obstructed stream

Mediated Earthwork No. 5 (Low Force)
Natural Force: The flow and drop of a waterfall and rapids
A flotation device that measures speed, direction and drop (GPS + Altitude) is run down a series of waterfalls, pools, and rapids.
This topographic path is recreated computationally and a collection of photographs and ephemera
drift down the screen at the same rate of speed and descent.

Mediated Earthwork No. 6
Natural Force: Tides, fog
A row of projectors in a long narrow space match the height of the tides, ranging from 0-5 meters, in a room filled with fog—
using the mist itself as a volumetric display of the six-hour cycle.
In realtime, as the tide rises and recedes, a moving image of waves within the arc of lit fog is gradually revealed.

About the series concept:

The 1960’s Earthworks movement created sculptures that often reacted due to forces in nature—wind, erosion, decay, etc.
The natural landscape literally shaped the works with the artist, and sculpture became time-based and interactive with its environment.
These prototypes pursue this concept further by using emerging technologies to be less invasive with the site.
New media is capable of introducing new types of environmental agency in sculptural, visual, cinematic, and narrative construction.
Nature can be ‘read’ using new computational sensors to measure hidden phenomena;
this data can then become the interactive driver in artworks that are inextricably linked to the natural features of the site.

Instead of the bulldozers used by those sculptors, "Mediated Earthworks" are directly formed by nature itself through emerging technologies.
The dynamic natural environment of Northumberland county of Northern England proved an inspirational setting for their conception.
In addition, the vibrant arts community in the region was integral by providing both physical and intangible resources.

The artist would like to thank the people of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne for their warmth, support and friendship.

 

all images protected Creative Commons 2011