Dance of the Little Dusters The Secret Life of Machines Series
Visual Arts
Description
Description
Dance of the Little Dusters is a playful work that uses electronics to animate a group of dusters so they dance to the melody of Swan Lake. Their movements are controlled by a set of stepper motors. The same motors also produce the music for the dance, because their vibrations are programmed according to Tchaikovsky’s score. The creation of the music is thus directly translated into choreography of the dusters to evoke a fantasy-like quality.
This project was inspired by the fact that manufacturers sometimes embed secret codes in the computer peripherals of various everyday devices, for instance printers and scanners. These secret codes can trigger ordinary objects to display surreal and uncanny behaviors. Rather than to scan whatever documents are placed on the glass plate, for instance, HP ScanJet devices will sing “Ode to Joy” if the correct combination of buttons is pressed while scanning. This surprising behavior of everyday objects foregrounds the black-box system of technologies. It also invites contemplation of the human-machine relationship. We are accompanied by technologies throughout our everyday lives without much or any knowledge of their internal workings.
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Indoor
Local