Adam Laskowitz, Daniel Barry: Saturation
Artist(s):
Title:
- Saturation
Exhibition:
Creation Year:
- 2011
Category:
Artist Statement:
Saturation is an installation that highlights the abundance of wireless signals occupying the electromagnetic spectrum. The work indexes the FM radio spectrum to reveal the density of the invisible communications infrastructure saturating the environment and our bodies.
Technical Information:
The work is installed in the form of an enormous chandelier; a set of open aluminum boxes housing FM radios are strung together and hung from the center of the ceiling. At rest, while concealed within their enclosures, the radio receivers output an ocean of static. Once exposed, the radios each connect to a different station, filling the space with a cacophony of noise. This process reveals a densely populated, dynamic array of electromagnetic fields that, while intangible, constantly permeate our bodies and environment.
Process Information:
The aluminum enclosures act as Faraday Cages, preventing the radios from receiving a signal. Each enclosure’s aggregation and directionality is determined through the installation’s spatial orientation to the source of the broadcast, disrupting the signal’s reception, and creating a field of static noise. Because the body absorbs electromagnetic signals, the radios may connect to the signal when a human hand is within close proximity of the radio inside the enclosure. This engagement with the installation exposes a realization of the effects that bodies and wireless signals impose upon one another. While this experience remains confined to a single broadcast, the multitude of signals can be experienced through simultaneously releasing each of the radios with a single pulley actuation. This releases an eruption of sounds, which exposes the dense saturation of the environment and reveals the wonderment of experiencing the multiplicity of signal presence at any given moment.
