Mindaugas Gapševičius in collaboration with Wolfgang Spahn, and participants
2019 05 25-27
The workshop provided a setting on experiencing electric power gained from our bodies. Similarly to the other workshops at the MO Museum, this workshop extended one of the toolkits, the “Ultra-Low-Voltage Survival Kit” developed by Mindaugas Gapševičius. The experiments invited the participants to light up an LED and to play sounds with a device powered by energy generated from the human body.
Conceptually the workshop referred to experiencing electricity and was built upon the idea that all matter is composed of neutral or ionized atoms, which, while interacting with subatomic particles of another atom, generate electric current. The referred artistic projects included Fresh Music For Rotten Vegetables by Karl Heinz Jeron and Bacterial Radio by Joe Davis.
The collaborative experience of electric power in the workshop ended with a presentation of outcomes. One of the presentations unfolded as a performance involving all of the participants during which the participants connected into a circle through earphones. Such design enabled the experience of the electric power generated by touching the built devices. At the same time, while hearing sounds generated by the next participant, the touched devices suggested a possibility to synchronize the polyphonic sound played by all participants. As well as the collaborative performance, a project by Tanya was created as an adaptation of Sergey Rachmaninoff’s piece Opus 16 No. 4, played by two hands for the two constructed devices. Both presentations actively involved audiences to contemplate electric power generated by their bodies.
This workshop was part of “Self-repair Lab,” an art installation and a collaborative framework for biological, chemical, and geological experimentation. The project was kindly supported by Nordic Culture Point and Council for Culture of Lithuania.
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