My Thermoformed Plastic Audio-Kinetic Light Sculpture Since 1966

Leonurdo,Vol. 2, pp. 411412. PergamonPress 1969. Printed in Great Britain MY THERMOFORMED PLASTIC AUDIOKINETIC LIGHT SCULPTURE SINCE 1966 Milton B. Howard* The timeexperiencein which we find ourselvestoday forces us into a heightened awareness of the present and our continuation and our interaction with this world of things and processes. My work gains meaning through the positive relation it has to this type of reality and gains interest not by ingenious change but rather by repetition, invention and extention within conspicuous unity. Events considered to be simultaneous from the point of view of one observer will from the point of view of another be separated by a certain time interval because of the four-dimensional geometry in which space distances and time intervals are involved. Albert Einstein’s graphic solutions to *Artist teaching at the Department of Art, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87110, U.S.A. (Received 13 March 1969.) such events are the source of my subject matter and imagery. Einstein’s graphs were made-up of points, lines, arrows, letters and numbers which became drawings of exceptional tension and beauty PI. I worked for a whilewith all of these visual images and then the point within the graph (or event) began to have the most meaning for me. This circular shape now greatly enlarged, transformed into a separated sphere and taken out of context hasa new character and meaning. My forms, however, still have a similarity with the original graph ideas, since they connect various simultaneous happenings in time and indicate forces and directions in space (cf. Fig. I). The serial system(repetition of the sameor similar images) is for me a vital means of development. Variations are found within oneform. Ideas become Fig. 2. ‘Spherical Form-Red No. l’, (rear view), acrylic plastic illuminated with flashing incandescent light, 36 in. dia., 1967. 411 412 Miltoti B. Howard FiAr. 3. ‘Spherical Form- Red No. I ’, (side riew), acrylic plastic 36 in. dia., 1967. extended by starting ecch work further along in thc process of knowing and understanding that form. New inventions and extentions are completed through the environmental interaction of color, shape, light and sound [2]. The use of colored transparent or translucent acrylic plastic, combined with thermoforming machines , became a breakthrough in solving the seemingly impossible problem of making near-perfect spherical shapes. Acrylic plastic has many advantageous innate characteristics: malleability, color, transparency, light transference, reflections, strength and light weight (cf. Figs. 2 and 3). I use color to arrive at specificvisual and physical sensations, i.e. coolness, warmness, deliciousness and sensuousness. Certain colors and lights create after-images so that a viewer seems to see front and rear views simultaneously, while the additive color effect causes colored shapes to change and to disappear as one looks through the various hanging spheres. The reliance on the after-image (the effect one has after looking at a bright color or light and then looking away) and the additive color sensations provoked by looking through the transparent colored spheres are also important factors in my ideas of simultaneity. Light is important because of its instantaneous, direct energy and its capability of increasing or decreasing color brightness, color interaction, motion and direction, and to significantly heighten attention and participation by the observer. Variable light intensity also allows me some control over the environment. I use incandescent, fluorescent and neon lights for different light requirements in my various works. I also use sound to increase my control of the environment. Various sounds and sound levels can change one‘s sense of physical space and motion through a personal sensation of either disturbance or pleasure. The source of the sound is not as important to me as the kind of sound and when and how it is used. Most of the sounds have been recorded from varied sources and programmed along with the lights to arrive at some desired environmental effect. I have now become interested in the use of a computer as a result of the spiralling number of problems resulting from making combinations of these visual and sound factors. In future works, I hope to use a computer to program the light, sound and kinetic effects. Eventually...