Intersections - Nguyen Dang Binh

Art Jury Member
Shawn Decker
Green
10 feet x 10 feet x 12 feet
Audio installation
ARTIST STATEMENT
In Green, I continue my exploration of the processes found in
nature and in other large and complex systems, and the potential
of computer programs to model or simulate such systems within
time-based artworks. In my most recent interactive installations and
performances, patterns of behavior are fixed and defined only by the
algorithmic process specified in the computer program embedded
within the micro-controller that is part of each work. These algorithmic
processes are designed to simulate the operation of physical
and natural systems. In particular, Green isolates the elements of
rhythm and spatial orientation, using many small speakers as sound
sources, with only the most basic of sounds (small clicks and pulses)
to create spatial and rhythmic studies that are based on the natural
soundscape found in meadows in midwestern North America.
CONTACT
Shawn Decker
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
112 South Michigan Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60603 USA
sdecker@artic.edu
www.shawndecker.com
TECHNICAl STATEMENT
like much of my recent sound-based installation work, Green makes
use of mechanical and other “direct” sound-production techniques
that may be controlled by a computer program. In the past, these
techniques have included the use of small motors to strike metal
objects, piano wires, etc. and are often kinetic in nature. In Green,
I use small loudspeakers, not in the normal sense to reproduce
sound waves, but rather as small kinetic machines, to which I send
pulses (on/off voltages only) that “twitch” and “tap” the loudspeakers,
treating them like simple mechanical noise-makers.
All of Green’s sounds are driven by algorithms coded into
home-made and custom-programmed microcontrollers (single-
chip computers). Each loudspeaker is powered by a microcontroller,
and can make only simple and quiet sounds (by literally turning the
speaker on and off only, so small clicks, buzzes, etc. are all that
is possible). The piece gains volume and complexity through the
multiplicity of speakers (32) and through their synchronization
(provided by the algorithms within the microcontrollers).
Jury Artworks Art Gallery Electronic Art and Animation Catalog