project listing

Wave Machine

A collaboration with Todd Holoubek, Dan Shiffman, Meghan Trainor, and Dimitri Negroponte. The Wave Machine is an experiment in taking an artificial mechanization of a real phenomenon and reproducing it in digital form.

Nine of the twenty one hand-etched boards

In today's world we are confronted with the unreal, primary as digital media.   Through the media we are forced to accept the "essence" of what we would like to have. This project takes this idea to the test by reproducing the much loved "wave machine" as a tilting light grid. We are offering the essence of early nineties kitch as a series of ones and zeros. 

The wave machine, in a test run

Inherent in this project, which uses the emphemeral and realitivly abstract medium of computer programming, we have sought to focus as much on the physical elements of the digital object. The wave machine is a mechanical abstraction of water.   To create a digital form of this natural event implies a more ephemeral experience. However we have focused as much attention on the physical aspects ofcreating a digital experience as we have to the programming elements.

A view of the wave machine from behind, showing connections between the boards

Handcrafting our circuit boards, etching designs, words, and parts of the programming language we are using itself onto the boards, is in opposition to both the ephemeral and mass-produced elements of contemporary digital experiences.

tags: board circuit copper etch machine wave