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Model

RANDY 6S

2021

Randy 6S.JPG

WARNING!

Growing up in 1990s Taiwan, surrounded by household technology like landline phones, fax machines, dial-up modems, and cassette tape recorders, I developed a fascination with the read/write heads, the tape carrying information, and the knobs of these machines. A chance encounter with a television program exploring practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism revealed researchers with various sensors attached to their bodies during meditation practices, attempting to gather data and create charts. How does invisible energy within the body conduct through rows of sensors and generate a series of peaks and troughs through machine plotting? What do these intricate recordings signify? The memories hidden in my mind and my fascination with transforming machines are explored and brought to life in Randy 6S.

The suffix "S" in Randy 6S, aside from playfully mimicking the naming conventions of consumer tech products, signifies a distinction from its predecessor and serves as an abbreviation for Soul-searching.

"In chaos, seek a moment of delicacy; amidst noise, perceive a fleeting tranquility."

In the TV series "Stranger Things," the female protagonist possesses the ability to locate specific life forms within an environment surrounded by audio noise. In the stereotypical portrayal of "practice," there is a scene of practicing under a waterfall, listening to the noise of falling water for physical and mental training. Amidst the engulfing noise, there is both tranquility and chaos, where subtle changes manifest as undulating trajectories on a scroll. With the phrase "Sound dwells nowhere and gives birth to the mind," I aim to describe the fluctuating sounds in the space perceived by the installation, transcribed through a series of transformations.

Randy 6S is a sound installation utilizing four modified radio receivers. It captures FM signals from four different frequency bands in the space, mixes them to form left and right channel audio signals, and then utilizes two speaker diaphragms to vibrate, causing the central plotting mechanism to shift left and right. The resulting trajectory is recorded on continuously rolling heat-sensitive paper. The plotting mechanism, centered around a modified heated soldering iron, is flanked by speaker diaphragms on the left and right, as well as a 3D-printed linkage structure. Below, a dark plastic hemisphere, connected to an aluminum bicycle frame, houses equipment for signal aggregation, mixing, audio amplification, power supply, and temperature control for the soldering iron. At the rear of the plotting device is a pulley system adapted from a drum stand, and at the front is a combination of components, including a folding chair, paint roller, office phone, motor, 3D printing, and laser-cut acrylic, forming a device to roll the heat-sensitive paper that connects the three components of the installation. Extending outward from the semi-circular hub of the plotting device are four capsule-shaped modified radio receivers, tasked with receiving radio signals from the space and transmitting them back to the central mixing hub of the installation.

Video documentation of Randy 6S

0 41"

Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts

DSCF0759000.jpg

Randy 6S

2021

Mixed Media

200x45x130cm

Randy 6 photos in detail

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