Electric Light Audio-Kinetic Artworks: ‘Ecological Biomes’

Leonardo, Vol. 12, pp. 4546. Pergamon Press, 1979. Printed in Great Britain. ELECTRIC LIGHT AUDIO-KINETIC ARTWORKS: ‘ECOLOGICAL BIOMES’ Ron Kostyniuk* ‘The artist’s business requires his involvement in practically everything. ..the total scopeof information he receivesday after day is of concern’ [l]. It was this view of Hans Haake combined with my background in the natural sciencesthat caused me to work in the direction of an artist as interlocutor. In 1969,I went from my home in Western Canada to the Milwaukee-Chicago area. Not long thereafter I became increasingly aware of the struggle for survival of different forms of life under conditions of overcrowding and pollution. This led me to making what I call ‘Ecological Biomes’; artworks that express, in a metaphoric fashion, contemporary, ecological dilemmas by combining aspects of advanced technology with organic matter such as aquatic forms of life and bleached bones. Ecology,asa subfieldof biology, can be defined as the study of the inter-relationships between organisms and between organisms and their environments . In part, it is concerned with energy transformations and the utilization of resources. Beforethe phase ofmy work I shall describe, I had been concerned mainly with kinetic electric light art objects that presented physical phenomena on an experiential level without the introduction of metaphor, allegory and allusion. For the works dealing with certain cause-effect relationships of technology, especially with industrial applications of technology on organisms in their habitat, I coined the term ‘Eco-biome’. ‘Eco-biome, No. 1’ (Fig. 1) treats metaphorically ecological factors by combining a central Techno-biome and Eco-biome in the form of hemisphericalcontainers at each end. The Techno-biome consists of a box containing four 6 in. long, 25W incandescent light bulbs. Plexiglas rods extend from this box into the hemispherical containers and pipe light that is visible at the grooves on their surfacesandat their ends. Rotating acetatecolor filterson a disk located between the light bulbs and the rods provide changes in the colors of the light. The hemispherical Eco-biomes are made of Plexiglas. The one on the left contains dead specimens of fish, sea cucumbers and marine annelids in preservative and the one on the right contains bleached bones of various animals. In the dark, the interiors of the Eco-biomes are illuminated by changing colored light received from the Plexiglas rods. ‘Eco-biome, No. 2’ (Fig. 2) is intended to express a symbioticrelationship between industrial technology and animals in their habitat (fish in an aquarium). *Artist, Dept. of Art, University of Calgary, 2920, 24 Ave., N. W., Calgary T2N 1N4, Canada. (Received 14 Feb. 1977) The Techno-biome in the upper part of the artwork consistsof two boxeswith groovedPlexiglasrods between them. In the center box are located 16incandescent light bulbs, each of 6W. Between each bulb and the Plexiglas rod located just above it, is an acetate color filter that provides light of different color to the rods, which is made visible through the grooves. In the bottom box is an electric circuit with a photoelectric cell upon which is directed a beam of light from the center box. When a fish intercepts the beam, the cell closes or opens the circuit that provides light to the rods. The Eco-biome is an aquarium containing severalgold fish of the species Curassiusauratus. The fish do not seem to be affected by the changes in ambient light that they cause to occur. Access to the aquarium is obtained by separating the boxes, which are provided with plugs for easy separation. ‘Eco-biome, No. 3’ (Fig. 3) is my attempt to express symbolically the ‘burden’ placed on humanity by the ecological-technological confrontation. The dumbbell form of the piece is meant to signify the ‘burden’. The Tecno-biome consists of the two opaque Plexiglas spheres on the surface of which are located small neon pilot .lights and eight SPST pushbutton switches that, when operated manually, activate the pilot lights as well as a sound system comprised of an oscillator modulated by resistors to produce tones over a range of 7 octaves. Acetate filters provide light of different color (as described for ‘Eco-biome, No. 2’, above). These lights illuminate the Eco-biome that consists of a...