ROTATING OPTICAL TOY EXPERIMENT INSTALLATION AT THE MAIN STREET MUSEUM
MEMORY AND RESONANCE
HOW IS IT THAT I SHOULD REMEMBER?
APRIL 2, 2011 – AUGUST 3, 2011
Sodium Ferrocyanide mixed with Ferric Ammonium in solution makes “invisible ink” possible.
Ultraviolet induced phosphorescence differs from UV fluorescence only in the amount of time it takes an activated electron to move from one excited state to a less excited state.
Magnetism is a function of a particular and delicate molecular order. Coloration in butterflies tells the story of a complex but elegant interaction of co-evolutionary forces between flowering plants, complicated alkaloids, insects, their food and their predators.
It has always been this way: discovery, exploration, treasure hunt, invisible forces, play, smile, safety, sharing, collecting – this how we learn and remember. When something is fun, it tends to stick.
The transition from the school week into Friday night—the best night for dreaming because two full open days (an eternity) lay ahead; wide open yet familiar and comfortable territory. Time for projects: “Watch Mr. Wizard”; stoop-ball fantasy baseball; indoor miniature golf; marble tunnels made with blocks; the chemistry set; the drawers of fluorescent minerals; and later on, Murray the K with the latest British invasion report; recording live water bubbles on tape and overdubbing electric guitar loops.
This project is about resonance. When similar yet slightly different sound waves meet, they can intersect and thus cause variation, pulsing and amplification. Oscillations occur in these “just-right” systems and release stored vibrational energy. Sound loops superimposed on each other often create this lush effect. Light wave-particles also resonate. Just stare at any one of the rotating toys. Focus, let all else around you fade into the background (if accompanied with sound looping, all the better). Lose yourself, float, flicker, concentrate and maybe find yourself in that moment of the half-awake, half-asleep; that primary process of discovery. Thus mesmerized, release that stored vibrational energy in the form of warm harmonic resonance.