Two Works by J.S. Everington: CELLULAR RESONANCE and OBSCURA
TBD
Artist Andy Batt, with his co-artists Bob Thompson & Jesse Brandeburg, brings two creations originally made for the Portland Winter Light Festival. Both are rooted in steadfastly vintage "analog" style appropriate their 1930s backstories. Both pieces are powered by Teensyduinos, LEDs and visual alterations to maintain the analog illusion.
The heart of each piece is the use of generative code to create an everchanging pattern — each moment is a new creation spurred on by lines of code and by the observers.
Cellular Resonance features a two-sided cabinet, with each side displaying a 10" x 50" LED Matrix Panel array powered by a Teensyduino 4.0 with SmartMatrix Shield, running a heavily modified "game of life" code. The code follows the rules set by the game, and with "cellular life" blooming, growing and dying back until it reaches either a time limit or a place where no more change is possible, at which point it cycles anew.
Obscura is also two sided, but requires two "subjects" to place their heads inside an opening on each end to view the display. Inside Obscura is a Teensyduino 4.1 with SmartMatrix Shield running a heavily modified version of the Animartix generative art code base. The panels are obscured by diffusion, fresnel magnifiers and are reflected to the viewer in 2 45° "beamsplitter" glass panels. The patterns and more are controlled by interactions of the user, from the position of their heads, to choices made by analog button pushes. A third user may alter the "aetheric matrix exchanger" that sits on top of OBSCURA, and observe the other users through the optical inspection ports.
Each piece also delivers on it’s backstory, that of forgotten creator and inventor J.S. Everington (J.S.E. Electrical Life LTD.). Jordan Sinclair Everington was far to ahead of this time, working out of a laboratory located in Oregon City. His storied history has him nearly crossing paths with success many times, but in each case, through bad luck, bad press or bad timing, J.S. failed to secure the fame and prosperity of his betters like Edison, Goddard or Farnsworth.
Through the efforts of Curator M. Hinson, of the Portland Natural History Museum, J.S.E’s works are being located from the storerooms and warehouses across the globe, restored for public viewing, and recontextualized to give the public a new look at these old works. These are objects of science, obscure and odd as they are, but are also objects of unintentional art and beauty.