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Crosswalk - Kinetic Sculpture (2008) |
However, with the help of technology, we can lift the veil that shrouds our senses and delve deeper into these fleeting moments. Technology allows us to slow down, magnify, and re-examine the sensory data we typically overlook. It provides us with tools to expand our perception and explore the infinite layers of our experiences.
Crosswalk is an artistic exploration of this concept, focusing on the seemingly simple act of walking across a quiet street. At first glance, this experience might appear mundane, but when dissected and magnified, it reveals a wealth of sensory information. In Crosswalk, the sounds associated with this moment are captured and transformed into something unfamiliar and alien. Each second of the original audio recording has been stretched to 32 times its original length. This extreme time-stretching technique uncovers hidden details and textures in the sound, allowing us to hear the nuances and subtleties that are usually imperceptible.
The choice of stretching each second to 32 times its length is significant. This number was chosen to reflect the 32-bit architecture of the technology used to capture and process the audio recording. In a 32-bit system, a computer processes data in chunks of 32 bits at a time. This limitation is mirrored in our own sensory experience, where we can only process a finite amount of information in any given moment. By stretching the sound, Crosswalk highlights this constraint and simultaneously pushes against it, inviting us to experience a moment as it approaches infinity.
The installation of Crosswalk includes a speaker that moves around a designed path, simulating the movement of the walker. As the speaker travels, it creates a dynamic auditory experience that shifts and changes depending on the listener's position in the room. Viewers are encouraged to explore the space by walking alongside the simulated walker and standing at different locations. Each position offers a unique auditory perspective, emphasizing how our experience of a moment is influenced by our physical location and movement.
Through Crosswalk, viewers are invited to slow down and engage with the infinite complexity of a single, everyday experience. The installation encourages us to reconsider the richness of our sensory world and the potential of technology to enhance our perception. By stretching time and magnifying sound, Crosswalk transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary, allowing us to glimpse the infinite that lies hidden within each moment.