2010
Interactive sound and light installation with spark bridges, electromagnetic movement sensors, spark and sensor interfaces, computer and custom software
Edwin van der Heide
co-produced by V2_ Lab / V2_ Institute for the Unstable Media (Rotterdam, NL)
The installation Evolving Spark Network consists of a grid of electric spark bridges that traverses an exhibition space. Together, they form a plane about 10 feet above the floor. The movements of visitors in the installation space are detected by means of radio frequency motion detectors and used as input for the network. Just as neurons form networks in our bodies, the spark bridges form an interconnected network in the exhibition space. This network serves as a metaphor for the system of electrical impulses by which our nerves communicate information, activated by input from the physical world.
The electric sparks produce both sound and light, and the patterns generated have distinct visual and sonic qualities. The visitors find themselves in the middle of an installation that addresses the whole of the space it occupies.
For Edwin van der Heide, electric sparks represent beauty, purity and simplicity. In fact, an electric spark is one of the most elementary forms of light generation, while the impulse produced produces the shortest imaginable sound. Composing with these impulses can therefore be seen as one of the most fundamental forms of composition in time and space.
Distributed by V2_Agency
Artist bio:
Edwin van der Heide is a Dutch artist and researcher focusing on sound, space and interaction. He extends composition and musical language in spatial, interactive and interdisciplinary directions. His body of work comprises installations, performances and environments, in which the audience is challenged to actively explore, interact with and relate to the work.
Edwin van der Heide has presented his work at renowned museums and festivals including Ars Electronica, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Dutch Electronic Art Festival, the InterCommunication Center in Tokyo, the National Art Museum of China, Transmediale in Berlin, Sonar in Barcelona, the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and FILE in Brazil. Van der Heide leads the Spatial Interaction Lab at the ArtScience Interfaculty of the Royal Conservatoire and the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague and is a part-time assistant professor at Leiden University.
http://www.evdh.net/
