thesispt1

November 29, 2021

A Little Bit of Flow

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This installation is divided into two explicit halves. The first half is the view of a pendulum moving in a dark space with a single point of light emitting form the bottom side of the “massive bob”. Subtle intangible interactions effect the movements of the pendulum. The second half and therefore second room of the installation is all about the memory of the previous room. Each minute the path of the pendulum is recorded and then subsequently projected in this room. Each imprint (image) exists for some time between 1 and 1440 minutes. The first image of the duration lasts the longest and the last image of the day lasts only one minute, for at the end of the day the literally computer memory is wiped clean and starts a new the next minute. Much the same can be said of life, the memories we carry with us end when we die regardless of how old the memory was. In this second half there is a change in perspective, in the room prior to this the movement of the pendulum can be described as moving towards and away from the viewer, however, in this room the projections is of an image captured directly below the swinging pendulum. This is an illusion to the how we experience life, standing throughput until on e day we are laid to rest looking up at the show before us.

Below is a series of images showing the experience as it stands currently.

Bird’s eye view of the two rooms. A light proof door keeps the light of the projection from effecting the long exposure image of the pendulum. Viewers enter from the left of the left room and can wonder through the room looking at the movement of the pendulum and interacting with the environment to change the movement of the pendulum until finding their way to the door at the far side of the room. After exiting the labyrinth door they are meet with the projection of the movement of the pendulum from the previous room. Viewers will then exit through the door to the right.

Section view of the installation showing the two rooms of the experience.

Entering into the first room reveling the moving pendulum at the center of the room.

Navigating around the circumference of the room to view the pendulum from different angles.

Moving into the next room through the labyrinth door reveling the first projection of the day.

https://www.philcaridi.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ThesisV1.37.png

Full view of the projection.

View of the wall label purposely put a the end of the experience.

November 22, 2021

The Long Slow Burn

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Block…This week felt long.

Felt blocked to make something representative of my ideas.

Felt uninspired to make anything…

But I did some research haha.

But I did push through and make something. My research is ever winding like a string around a ball. The path goes in many directions, as does life, but there is always the constant of moving towards an end. Memories along the way serve as reminders of the life we lived, those who were touched by our movements through life remember us. Until one day all those who had memories of us are gone as well. The String and this image are both representative of life. In the beginning we are born of darkness, we come into the light and eventually cast out own light, along the way we fade into nothing more than memory until darkness is all that is left. So say a void appears in the space you once occupied, however, the space has always been there, it is you that has come and gone. Was the void made by you or is it in spite of you?

There are a lot of examples of light painting to be found. There are even many examples of light paint with different types of pendulums, there is however, one major difference between these works and my one. That being the what effects the movement of the pendulum. The works I have found fall into two major categories human body movement and fixed ration pendulums. Human body movement can be very organized and produce intended specific patterns and shapes or forms but it can also be sporadic. Fixed ratio pendulums can be deigned to move in harmonic patterns or have a bit of chaos thrown into the mix, however the chaos that is produced is very specific to the construction. Usually mounted vertically and allows gravity to be exerted on a compound rigid pendulum. The movement will always have aspects that are concentric and only moves around two pivot points. Once the movement starts it is left up to physics to decide the path. To date I have not found any example attached to an infinitely variable mounting point and have the movement of the point dictated by intangible interactions of the viewers in the room where it is installed.

I’ve always thought about this as installation in two rooms one the pendulum itself and the other a series of projections of the movements made by the pendulum. I guess anyone who finds themselves in a gallery or museum would be my audience. This installation would need to viewed in a controlled environment base on how particular parts of it work, specifically the need for the pendulum to be housed in a dark room.

I’m pretty far along with the “story” behind this installation. It is an abstraction of time. It speaks to how we move through life, the chaos and forces that influence it, and the permanence of death through the chaotic movement of the pendulum and the record (memory) of the movement. The record on lasts a single day, once the day closes the memory, the physical computer memory, is erased.

A brief description of the installation and the technology that needs to be used follows. Two rooms adjoined with a single door between them, the door needs to be light tight so it will be something like the type of door found in darkrooms. The first room houses the pendulum it will be fairly dark in the room to allow for a camera placed directly under the movement area of the pendulum can capture the movement. The movement of the pendulum will be evidenced by a single RGB LED located at the bottom of the pendulum. The color of the LED is based on the position the pendulums attachment point. The pendulum is attached to a carriage that is on an X/Y gantry. The limits of the gantry will most likely be 8 inches on both X and Y axis. The distance on each axis and the speed at which the carriage travels along the axis are determent by intangible interactions of the viewers. I have figured out which interactions or sensor I will be using for this part. The camera takes a one minute exposure, after the exposure is finished it is sent to a device (most likely a raspberry pi) which is hooked up to a project. The image of the previous image will be added to the project in the next room. The project changes over time, at the start of the day the projection is black for one minute. Each minute there after the previous minute’s image is added to the projection. Each time an image is added the grid expands, if it needs to, to accommodate the new image. For example at the start of minute six there will be five images which will no longer fit in the previous 2×2 grid so the grid expands to 4×4. The grid always expands to keep it square. At the end of the day there will be a grid of 1440 images one image for each minute of the day. At the end of the day the images are deleted and lost forever.

I need to figure out the camera, the gantry, the sensors, the wireless communication, and the project for this to come together. There are a few places along this journey that could be intermediate stopping points, however, I think that it is possible to finish by the end of next semester.

I’m pretty far along with the “story” behind this installation. It is an abstraction of time. It speaks to how we move through life, the chaos and forces that influence life, and the permanence of death through the c

November 4, 2021

Phil-The beginning of the beginning

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A few thought to start the process…

Death, how do we as a culture view and deal with death? How does my thought of death differ from those around me, from those that come form different cultures. The topic of death comes up in my work often. Time is also a theme that I think about constantly. How do we experience time? Why does it pass differently for different people? Why does it pass differently depending on the situation? In my thesis I want to explore both time and death, and how we relate to these concepts. Specifically the fleetingness of time and the permanence of death.
The idea of Pendulight started in Energy (class) as a way to create an artifact from the kinetic energy of a moving pendulum. The original project had a compound leaver arm attached to the drive shaft of a stepper motor. the viewer/user had control of the speed and direction of the stepper through discrete controls. The change in direction and speed would cause chaos in the movement of the pendulum. Its this chaos in the movement that made me start thinking about this as an illusion to life, how life changes direction without notice, how the energy of life is in a constant ebb and flow, how one day the movement of life will stop.
There are a number of technical aspects of this piece that need to figured out to expand the original concept. I can see how many of those details can be solved but the biggest are of concern is in regard to the interactions of the viewer/user. Some feedback I’ve been given is to change the interactions from discrete to intangible. This makes sense to me, however, I want to make the interactions so they can be discovered and have meaning to the overall piece and subject of the installation. the suggestion was made to use sensors to control the variables that influence the behavior of the pendulum.

A letter to myself

Phil,

When you started this journey you were 40 years old, how does death resonate with you now that another 40 year have passed? Is death still a cold silent darkness or have you lived enough that the cyclical nature of life is more please to your psyche? I learned innumerable things along the way to the point in my life and I wonder what other pieces have fallen into place since writing this. Did the world crumble around us? Did we find a way to save this earth or did the damage take over? Are you even reading this right now or was this sent into the void never to be unearthed by my future self?

The hope for this project was to make people understand how time moves on without regard for anything around it. To make us think about the present and how the future for all of us is the same, death comes for us all, and weather you believe in reincarnation, heaven or hell, or an afterlife of some sort we must realize that it will not be the same as it now. The memories of this lifetime will not influence nor come to light in the infinite time of death. I’ve said it before, this thought of death, how we relate to it, and how it will inevitably come to fruition is not morbid; its real. Even for Methuselah’s children death descended upon them, we as a society must strive to normalize death in a way that makes us unafraid of what is to come. I think that’s why I look at death so much, I am not at peace with death. This piece is therapy in a way, forcing me to understand fear of the unknown, forcing me to sit with uncomfortable thoughts. There are very few constants in life, in fact I can really on think of one and that is death. For whatever lives must die, must return to stardust, must continue the cycle of entropy to afford the ever-present expansion and eventual contraction to the cosmos.

Phil, I hope meaning found its way to you. I hope that you feel as though you have accomplished what you were put here to do, I don’t yet know what that is and I probably won’t for years to come.

With all the love possible,

phil at year 40

Research will be compiled in the following are.na channel.

https://www.are.na/phil-caridi/thesis-research-ne1iwvgdfoy

If you want to see my work over the past year or so head to:

https://www.philcaridi.com