Urgent Pendulum, 2020

I started work on Urgent Pendulum at the beginning of Shelter-In-Place, in March 2020, using materials I had on hand. The construction was done haphazardly, with a sense of urgency, as we were all immersed in a sense of panic at that time. Over time I slowed down, but continued iterating on the initial design, until it reached a sort of stasis, in its current incarnation. The two radios are each actuated by a pair of rails with a ball bearing between them. As the ball bearings roll back and forth, the radios turn on and off. The mechanism is intentionally simple and comprehensible. The effect is of a message coming in from far away, or from another time. The message is garbled, and it's unclear what it means. Some parts of this sculpture, most notably the motor and motor controller, were repurposed from Torch Song.