Dynamic System No. 1 (Bubble Harp) 1998. Custom PC software.

Tesselated structures, referred to as Voronoi Diagrams, are constructed about a set of points such that a polygon encloses all of the area around each point, and all of the space in this polygon is closer to the central point than to any other point. Fundamentally, this diagram represents the structure of bubbles, the patterns of animal and community dominance, the patterns of cells and honeycomb, fishes' scale forms, the drying of desert sand and, in the first know drawing of a Voronoi diagram, Descarte's analysis of the gravitational influence of stars in 1644 (below). Even in the world of marketing, these diagrams find use in analyzing the distance of consumers to the nearest fast food restaurant.

The Bubble Harp is a work that uses Voronoi diagrams as a conceptual framework for relating to gesture. As long as the mouse button is pressed, the exact temporal and spatial movement of the viewers movement is recorded. When the button is let up, the point repeats this motion endlessly. As successive points are added, a Voronoi diagram is dynamically constructed around these points. Since each point's playback duration differs, the repeat period of this system is very large. This is analogous to Brian Eno's tape loop experiments that use multiple cycling audio tapes with their own varying durations to create complex and unanticipated temporal interrelationships. With a second button on the pen or mouse, the creator can draw out a string of points emerging at short intervals from their movement. The compositional process of this system is not strictly additive or subtractive as the media of painting or light. As points are added, they successively add lines, but, depending on their placement, they may subtract space, creating openness instead of more complexity.

Bubble Harp. Tokyo Intercommunications Center. 1999.

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About the Dynamic Systems Series

The Dynamic Systems Series is an series of screen-based works which use human movement as input. The only way for one's body to enter into the desktop computer is through the mouse, and the cursor is the projection of the body into the screen. These works take that projection of the body and create a system in response.

Each work is embodied as a dynamic system - a model of natural, mathematical or algorithmic reality. The pieces are meant to provide an immediate sensation of touching an immaterial, but "natural" world with consistent and predictable reactions, but infinite variety. An instant and intuitive sense of presence and efficacy is achieved, while spending more time with a system provides greater reward - the effect of the work on the mind is equal to the effect of the mind on the work.

These pieces blur the line between artwork and art-making tool. The artwork is the set of rules which construct a system in which the viewer is an essential part. Sol LeWitt's work serves as a traditional media example of this concept. However, within the dynamic medium of computation, the particular expression of the rules continuously changes in response to the active viewer.

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