Audio-Kinetic Art with Laser Beams and Electronic Systems

Leo~irrki, Vol. 8, pp. 142-144. Pergamon Press 1975. Printed in Great Britain AUDIO-KINETIC ART WITH LASER BEAMS AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS Stanislaw 0 stoja-Kotkowski* The pigments of traditional painting, in my opinion, are often inadequate for making art works that are aesthetically satisfying for people whose eyes in this century are being exposed more and more to colour in photography, cinema and television. 1 am intrigued by the wide span of the electromagnetic radiation spectrum of which only a very narrow band, represented by the colours of the rainbow, stimulates a response in the human eye. I wonder whether more use can be made of the radiation spectrum by making it receptive to the human eye, just as ultraviolet radiation is when it impinges on certain fluorescent pigments and is converted to radiation within the narrow band resulting in the perception of a colour with enhanced brilliance [I]. 1 have been fascinated also by the idea of the conversion of mechanical energy, for example, audible vibrations or sounds, into visible light [2] and vice iwsa and I shall report in the following paragraphs on recent work in this direction. In 1964, with the help of the Philips Research Laboratories at Hendon, South Australia, I used, I believe for the first time in Australia, television tubes for displaying non-figurative images whose motion responded to sound frequencies and intensities . The system I used was built with the help of Angas Nicholson and electronics engineer Malcolm Key. Several electromagnetic fields of variable intensities were built around a TV cathode-ray tube (CRT) to extend the range for influencing the images formed by the impingement of the electron beam on the phosphor screen of the tube. In 1967at the Marconi Experimental Laboratories in Chelmsford, England, I experimented also with projected colour television images on a screen approximately 150 x 200 cm. These images were made by separating the three colour generators and forming images by blocking separate areas of colour in individual generators or shifting them out of phase. Then, with the help of the Laser Laboratory at the Weapons Research Establishment, Salisbury, South Australia, I made an installation of a laser beam whose sweep synchronized with voices and/or electronic music to produce images on a 300 sq. ft. * Artist living a t Arbroath, Stirling, South Australia, 5152. (Received 17 February 1973.) rear projection screen. This device was displayed and operated at the Adelaide Festival of Arts in March, 1968. The output of the 500 mv argon-ion laser was a beam of light at two wavelengths: 4880A (blue) and 5145A (green). The beam was split using a diffraction filter so that the two beams of light of different wavelengths could be manipulated individually. To produce the laser images I used fractured and moulded glass chips arranged on a revolving disc through which the laser beam passed. The speed of the motor was regulated to fit the rhythm or my interpretation of the mood of the sounds of music. The motion of the images was programmed for automatic operation and provided as well for mechanically moving an optical arrangement in front of the laser beams. This ( I 968) may have been the first time that a laser was used in the theatre (Stein reported in 1970 on his use of a laser in theatre decor in Ref. 3). I have found the use of a laser beam particularly exciting, because one can obtain a brilliancy of blue-green and red colours on projection that 1 have never seen equalled by other means. The blue-green is so brilliant that an aquamarine stone reflecting in sunlight appears dull in comparison. During my Creative Arts Fellowship at the Australian National University at Canberra, 197I72 ,I built with the co-operation of the Administration of the University and the help of the Research School of Physical Sciences of the A.N.U. another audio-kinetic device that I have named LaserChromason . It produces kinetic images on a translucent Perspex screen, which is a portion (f) of its sperical housing (i) (Figs. 1 and 2). The light sources for producing images are three 3 m.v. helium-neon lasers (a) and six differently...