Wen-Ying Tsai

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[28] Cybernetic Serendipity

stainless steel planes on top of vibrating stainless steel rods. in constant motion, appearance is altered by high-frequency lighting on the sculpture. the frequency of the strobe flash is linked to external stimulus controlled by the proximity of the viewer or sound in the environment (ambient sound). the lighting changes the perception from gentle undulation to rapid vibration

studies mechanical engineering and art

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[24] Frank Popper's Art of the Electronic Age

tries to integrate the natural with sythetic environment

Upward Falling Fountain
- using strobe lighting to make water appear to flow up (based heavily on the work of harold eggerton)

Desert Spring(1991)
- newer work based on his earlier work
- focuses on homeostatic relationship between art and the environment
- stability and disturbance
- automatically compensates for changes in the environment
- detects through infra-red sensors
- through movement and sound spectators stimulate and destabilize the sculpture
- when people leave, it returns to its tranquil state of mild undulation

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[13] Hulten, The Machine . . .

American, born China 1928
Artist and Engineer

Cybernetic Sculpture, 1968
an EAT project from the Pontus Hulten Moma show
collaboration with engineer Frank T. Turner
multiple stainless steel units, each 9'4" high x 20" diameter at base; oscillator, stroboscopic lights
- based on concept of standing wave produced by a vibrating rod
- several grouped together
- the visual effect is continually modulated by high-frequency stroboscopic lights
- the lights react to sound
- the "sense of contact" with the work is in the subtlety of reaction
- "the response of the trembling rods seems a direct translation of his voice"
- "The technical solution that produces this illusionistic feat is at once so discreet and so efficient that it strikes us as perfect."