The Poème électronique was a unique experience, originated from the request made by Philips to Le Corbusier for the design of the company’s pavilion at the Brussels World Fair in 1958. The whole project was initiated and directed by Le Corbusier, who also created and/or selected the images for the audiovisual show, with the organized sound composed by Edgar Varèse, and the stunning surfaces of the building designed by Iannis Xenakis. The result was a ground breaking immersive environment, since the space of the Pavilion hosted the audio and the visual materials as integral parts of the architectural design.
Unluckily, such a visionary synthesis of innovative ideas could not stand with its times, and the paradigm was never repeated, or even attempted, again: the Pavilion, notwithstanding the incredible number of spectators (2 millions), was turned down a few months after its inauguration, at the end of the Exposition. The disappearance of the Pavilion makes the Poème électronique a destroyed masterpiece.
What we stl have today are only fragments of the various components (i.e. photos and drafts of the architecture, the projected video in videotape from the Philips archives, a stereo reduction of Varèse’s and Xenakis’ musical pieces).
Virtual Electronic Poem (VEP) is a project realized as a virtual reality (VR) environment that reproduces the experience of the dismantled masterpiece through an accurate philological reconstruction of the original installation. The website looks a bit out of date but the first of two films in this post shows the results of the work. The second shows the Poème électronique as a film rather than in its architectural context. Perhaps someone out there would be good enough to bring the building into a public setting on Second Life?
Sean Hanna is an interesting architect/engineer whose work I’ve been meaning to cover for some time. He was awarded a American Institute of Architects Student Gold Medal and went on to work on algorithmic & parametric design aspects of major construction projects with architects including Foster and Partners and sculptor Antony Gormley. His research is mainly in developing computational methods for dealing with complex systems in architecture, and in structural optimisation and rapid prototyping technology. I’ve selected a couple of his projects to give a sample of his work but check out his website for more details. His work is part of the currently running “Capture & Context” exhibition I posted on early this week.
BODY / SPACE / FRAME
Sean role in the BODY / SPACE / FRAME by artist Antony Gormley was in the creation of methods for generating a body formally and constructing a geometry appropriate for and structurally constructing the 25 metre high sculpture. Built out of an open steel lattice in the shape of a crouching figure, it was sited on the end of an 800 metre polder and faced outward from the coast of the Zuiderzee, Holland.
PAN_07 CHAIR
Optimised cellular structure in collaboration with Timothy Schreiber
Based on an analogy with the highly efficient cellular structure of living wood or bone, which adapts to its environment as it grows, the chair’s interior is comprised of a fine lattice that minimises weight while maximising strength. The design method combines principles of evolution and artificial intelligence to create a material that responds to its environment by growing denser in the areas required to best withstand the external forces applied when the chair is in use.
By Royal Appointment is a set of responsive chairs by Moritz Waldemeyer. As a person sits in the chair, an RGB colour sensor in the back reads the colour of their clothing. The colour LEDs on the back of the chair then gradually fade into the colour of the sitter. “This gives the individual sitting on it their own halo of light, or personal aura, evoking images of religious icons and kings”
The Light Bead Curtain is an interactive musical installation that can be freely played by person’s touch. The installation takes the familiar form of a beaded curtain that consists of strings of simple clear beads. Each bead, on a users touch, lights itself and emits a unique sound. People play with the curtain by weaving their hands through it, touching it with their faces, and moving through it with their body. An environment of light and sound is created when people engage with the curtain. Although the curtain is primarily meant to be played with by a person, each bead is controllable and programmable via a computer. In this manner, the curtain can function as an interactive display.
The Light Bead Curtain is currently being developed by Ami Wolf and Jin-Yo Mok
One of my favourite and simplist projects at Ars Electronica was Aram Bartholl ’s Random Screen.
“Random Screen” is a mechanical thermo dynamic display which does not rely on any electricity.
Each of the 12 by 12 cm pixels is an individual entity. A tee candle lights and controls each pixel. The rising heat of the candle turns a modified beer can which turns the pixel on and off. Each pixel has its own frequence. The more bright a candle shines the faster is the rotaion of the can.
His other project presented at Ars Electronica was Paperpixel
Paper Pixels is a 30 inch, 8 x 8 pixel, manually controlled screen. Each of the 64 pixels is illuminated steadily by a light bulb. Apart from the light bulbs, no further electronic parts are used. The display is controlled by a long paper strip – the data medium – into which have been punched holes arranged along 64 rows or “tracks“. As the strip is pulled by hand between the light sources and the pixels, these holes control each of the pixels individually. When a hole passes directly beneath a pixel it allows light through, illuminating the corresponding pixel.
The ends of the paper strip is are joined so it forms an endless loop which passes around two cylindrical rollers fixed to each end of the display unit. In order that the 64 pixels can be controlled individually, and so that a hole in the paper doesn’t spread through each pixel in a pixel row, the light bulbs are arranged in tilted rows along the direction of the paper’s movement. Exactly the same order is used in the accompanying programming board. 64 steel pens as blanking are fixed in an MDF board, through which the strip of paper to be programmed is pulled. The desired pixels can be activated frame for frame, or the holes can be punched in the paper manually. The diameter of a hole is 6mm. For the next frame, the 54 cm wide strip of paper is moved along about 1cm.
The paper strip formed as an endless loop is approximately 3 m long which allows a programmable capacity of approximately 300 frames. The number of frames per second (fps) is determined by the speed at which the paper is pulled through the screen. The duration of the loop for an 8 x 8 pixel display at 10 fps is approximately 30 seconds.
Music for Bodies is a research project linking the sonic mapping of human bodies to architecture, through a practical study of bioresonance and interface building. Its aim is to discover new methods of experimental music making, as well as make new music more accessible to the wider community. It is doing this concentrating on making music to feel rather than just listen to. Currently it is making Sonic Beds around the world; it recently won an Award of Distinction for Digital Music at Prix Ars Electronica
"Kaffe Matthews’ Sonic Bed_London installation consists of a bed equipped with built-in loudspeakers; when installation visitors lie down on it, an endless loop of sounds washes over them. Due to their frequency and intensity, these sounds are perceived not only with the ears but also with the entire body in what is a very pleasant experience. The installation has already been exhibited several times and has proven to be a popular attraction with young and old alike since it harmoniously appeals to several different dimensions of human life. The choice of what is actually a rather intimate object used in everyday life as well as the proximity of other installation visitors opens up a strong social component. On the other hand, the installation also makes it possible to experience sound in a new way and thereby provides access to a new auditory dimension."
