Tomas Laurenzo

2014

Two Systems

Two Systems is an interactive installation reflecting on control and its representation.

Interactive stop-motion and sound installation

Installation view of Two Systems with its tabletop display and two control knobs.
Laser-cut hand-drawn fire animation used in Two Systems.

Two Systems is an interactive installation reflecting on control and its representation.

The installation consists of a tabletop display showing a high-resolution stop-motion animation with interactive sound.

The animation consists of a thirteen-frame, laser-cut, hand-drawn animation of a fire. After being photographed, these pieces were gradually burned, generating new layers of stop-motion animation. This burning created an orthogonal axis of animation. There are thirteen different sets of burned pieces, giving a total of 169 possible images animated along arbitrary paths through these two axes: time and burning.

The animation path is controlled by the spectator with two knobs. The knobs directly control the sound created by the installation. This sound is generated by algorithmically combining two recordings of the Umbrella Revolution, Hong Kong's student-led pro-democracy demonstrations in 2014.

Although the two controls have a direct impact on the sound being reproduced, the causal relation between the spectator's interaction and the sound changes continuously, making it impossible to learn how to control the sound.

The installation reflects on control, information, and representation.

Two Systems participated in The Age of Experience, a collective exhibition at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong, and the University of Applied Arts Vienna, curated by Dr Harald Kraemer.

Credits

Tomas Laurenzo: concept, programming, construction.

Tatjana Kudinova: hand-drawn fire animation, laser cutting.

With thanks to my former research assistant Samuel Adam Swope.

Two Systems: front view of the illuminated table and its black control pedestal.
The illuminated table and control pedestal seen from an angle.
Two Systems installed beneath a triangular wall detail in the gallery.
An angled view of the table with its black pedestal in the foreground.
The white illuminated tabletop above the grey enclosure and black pedestal.
Close-up of an illustrated parchment shape on the illuminated tabletop.
Two metallic controls on the black pedestal, with the tabletop blurred behind.
The pair of metallic controls seen against the illuminated table.
The illustrated parchment on the table seen from the left.
The tabletop illustration and the two controls on the pedestal.
An angled gallery view of the illuminated table and its separate pedestal.
Wide gallery view of Two Systems beneath the triangular wall detail.
A darkened parchment shape on the bright tabletop, seen from above the controls.
Installation view of Two Systems with its tabletop display and two control knobs.
The illuminated tabletop and illustrated parchment above the control pedestal.
A parchment shape with a darkened edge on the illuminated tabletop.
An overhead view of the illustrated parchment with its irregular dark border.
The side of the grey table enclosure beside the black control pedestal.
High-angle view of the illuminated tabletop and adjacent control pedestal.
Wide view of Two Systems within the exhibition gallery.
The illuminated table and pedestal in the open gallery space.
Front view of the table displaying an irregular parchment shape.
The parchment image on the illuminated table viewed from behind the pedestal.
An angled overhead view of the tabletop illustration and black pedestal.
Close-up of the two metallic controls in front of the parchment image.
The control pedestal directly beneath the illuminated parchment image.
Close-up of the black pedestal and its pair of metallic controls.
Open video separately

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