Oscillating Bodies
Artwork and Walk-in-Workshop at the Crafting Futures Lab at ArsElectronica Linz
September 2022
Artwork and Walk-in-Workshop at the Crafting Futures Lab at ArsElectronica Linz
September 2022
Piezoelectric crystals are in mountains, laboratories, technological devices, corals, bones, hair and teeth. They convert mechanical energy into electrical energy and vis versa. This oscillation between different energy states is a form of exchange that, for example, stimulates bone growth, makes clocks oscillate in a certain beat, or generates images through sonar and ultrasound devices - an exchange that can either foster or destroy material relationships. For example, a cat purr helps to regenerate bone tissue while submarine sonar is responsible for killing beaked whales. Both effects are related to piezoelectricity.
While piezoelectricity is a natural phenomenon, piezoelectric oscillators that have been designed for measurement and communication technologies since the end of World War I raise critical questions about forms of human perception and related industrial production processes.
But beyond a dichotomic understanding of natur and design this workshop asks: Where does the growth of crystals end and material design of an oscillator begin?
While piezoelectricity is a natural phenomenon, piezoelectric oscillators that have been designed for measurement and communication technologies since the end of World War I raise critical questions about forms of human perception and related industrial production processes.
But beyond a dichotomic understanding of natur and design this workshop asks: Where does the growth of crystals end and material design of an oscillator begin?
