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Crystal Set

Installation - 2011
Video Documentation, Edith-Russ Haus Oldenburg, 2011

The design culture of the new hides the archaic materials of the planet — Jussi Parikka

Crystal Set executes an artistic exploration of the material layer of contemporary digital technology. The autonomous installation is built around a crude silicon carbide specimen. Sixty-four iron needles are attached to the surface of the crystal, forming a semiconducting junction (diode) at the contact point. Silicon carbide has two additional properties: it emits light at the point of contact (LED) and generates audible signals (piezoelectric effect). A custom software investigates the logical structure of the crystal. It applies different electronic patterns to the contacts based on an analysis of current flow, resistance, and response times in the specimen. In doing this, it inspects its own properties and behavior in a closed feedback loop. As a result, it generates a raw and untamed signal stream that becomes visible and audible to the observer.

Crystal Set - LEAP Berlin, 2013
Crystal Set - Detail, 2011
Crystal Set - Edith Russ Haus Oldernburg, 2011
Crystal Set - Edith Russ Haus Oldernburg, 2011
Crystal Set - Edith Russ Haus Oldernburg, 2011
Crystal Set - Closeup, 2011
Crystal Set - LEAP Berlin, 2013
Installation views at Edith Russ Haus for Media Art (2011) and LEAP Gallery, Berlin (2013)
Materials:
Silicon carbide (SiC), iron needles, acrylic glass, custom electronics

Credits:
Produced with the support of the Edith Russ Site for Media Art

Exhibitions/Performances:

2019 Liquid Crystal World
Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA), Middlesbrough UK

2018 Liquid Crystal World
Site Gallery, Sheffield UK

2016 The Paradox of Knowing Universals
Kasseler Kunstverein, Kassel DE

2015 Superconduction. Challenge of art & technology
Pop-up exhibition by Laboratoria Moscow, Riga LV

2015 The Secret of the Machines
Kapelica Gallery, Ljubljana SLO

2014 Dernières Nouvelles de L’Éther
La Panacée, Montpellier FR

2013 In Search for Precise Pleasures
LEAP, Berlin DE

2011 Produced @ 10 Jahre Stipendium für Medienkunst
Edith Russ Site for Media Art, Oldenburg DE

(c) Ralf Baecker 2004 - 2023