Interaction of Linguistic and Visual Representation in Three Kinetic Art Installations

Leonardo, Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 117-119, 1983 Printed in Great Britain 0024-094X/83S3.00+0.00 Pergamon Press Ltd. INTERACTION OF LINGUISTIC AND VISUAL REPRESENTATION IN THREE KINETIC ART INSTALLATIONS Thorbj8rn Lausten* In earlier articles I have described installations constructed in Denmark [1,2]. This articlediscusses three further installations, ‘Codex’, ‘Interval’and ‘Radiator’, two incorporating electronic circuits, and all three having texts as an integral part of their content. I describe each piece and then give remarks on my intentions in constructing it. 1. ‘Codex’ In the installation ‘Codex’ (Figs 1and 2) I placed four black points at random upon a wood plate on the floor in order to form a constellation. Ninety centimetres above this, a 10mm thick glass plate with an areaequal to that of the floor plate hung suspended by wires at the four corners from a square of steel tubing. This tubing was 90 x 90 cm and hung suspended from the ceiling. From the steel tubing, two incandescent bulbs hung above the glass plate. I connected the bulbs, a 500 W white light and a 200 W white light, to an on/off switch-controller programmed to switch on and off in order to spell the word rid (time) in Morse code alphabet. The word rime was spelled simultaneously by each bulb, the rate of switching on and off for the 500W bulb being half as fast as that for the 200 W bulb. The word meaning in four different languages appeared in black adhesive lettering on the suspended glass plate. The central area of the glass plate contained the two words blind code in Braille writing. In this installation, my intention was to reflect the fact that light energy is a necessary condition for all organic life on Earth and that human visual perception is almost totally dependent on the ‘white’ light of the sun, i.e. the visible spectrum. When the bulbs of the piece emitted light, I intended to communicate the concept and the feeling of time as an inseparable aspect of any process. The bulbs’ spelling of the word time referred to the physical and the visual prerequisite of the same concept in a context of visual art. When the bulb(s) was (were) on, the four spellings of the word meaning and the Braille-writing blind code were projected onto the wooden plate lying beneath the suspended plate. Concerning the word “meaning” I used the concept of the linguist Louis Hjelmslev who postulates that meaning is something projected onto the generative substance of language [3]. In this installation, the word meaning itself, in four different languages plus the Braille writing, were projected onto the randomly positioned constellation on the white plate. I relied on an article by David Bohm for an understanding and descriptions of physical processes and a deeper relation between art and science [4]. With the installation ‘Codex’, I thus hoped by means of visual art to make a common point of understanding of both physical processes and processes of understanding. *Artist, H o l m Msllevej 4, Dk-Viby J, Denmark. (Received4 June 1981) Fig. 1. Viewof‘codex’.kineticlight installation. 270x l l O x IlOcm, 1979. (Gallery Clemens. Aarhus. Denmark. 1979.) 2. ‘Interval’ In the installation ‘Interval’ (Fig. 3), I suspended two 10mm thick acrylic plates at 30cm intervals above mirrored glass mounted on a wooden plate lying on the ground. The lower, suspended acrylic plate had words lettered on each of the four sides of the square. On the upper side of the top plate, I painted a spiral figure with thick vinyl polymer paint, excluding a central 117 118 Thorbjmrn Lausten Fi,?.2. Detail view of ’Code.r’. 1979. Fi,?. 3. View of ‘Interval‘. installation at Galler)) C‘Icmcn.r. Aarhus, Denmark. 90 x I10 x 110 cm, 1980. point which remained transparent. On the lower side I painted ( I ) crossing black and white lines each going approximately from the middle of one side to approximately the middle of the opposite side, and (2) a red circle and a white point both placed approximately on the diagonals of the square. The lower acrylic plate had letters on the top side spelling...