Get well Jeffrey

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We were disturbed to learn this week of the illness of Jeffrey D. Wassmann, Kaufman Director of the Wassmann Institute, Washington, and an authority on the work of Johann Dieter Wassmann.

According to Sophie Vogt, Director of MuseumZeitraum Leipzig, Mr Wassmann suffered heart failure while on a visit to Australia and will undergo surgery in Melbourne next week. See http://museumzeitraum.blogspot.com/ for further information.

All of us at the Museum of Electrical Philosophy wish him a speedy recovery.
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Back to the Nicholas Building

And so we packed it all up and went on our way again.

Well not quite all. Face Crumpets Inwards has stayed at Latrobe Street for a while longer, only instead of hanging on an internal wall it now has a window seat, looking out to the street to amuse the passers-by. And interestingly after only a day or two in its new position it had aroused interest. According to our friend Bion, a couple came in and complained to him that it was setting a dangerous example to impressionable children who might be tempted to emulate the fork and spoon trick. And die. And even if it's art this was going Too Far.

This seems to raise a couple of interesting points. First, the nature of the work may have been changed by its physical position. When it was inside the white cube the context said this is art and normal rules may not apply; but put it in the window facing the street and for some people it's just an electrical appliance, same as in Myer's kitchen department where you can be sure they would not treat a serious matter like electrical safety so lightly.

Secondly, the motor in the toaster wasn't working that day so the kinetic effect was missing. That shouldn't really alter the work but I guess in combination with the street location it was another step towards looking like a dodgy cutlery holder rather than a not-drowning-waving entertainment.

As for the other pieces, they are mostly back in the Museum with the Foucault twins now installed in the door spot where the seem to be entertaining the other inhabitants of the 6th floor, not to mention Andre's jewellery customers, and Dimitri and Tim in the lifts.

Gallery report (2)

NO USER-SERVICEABLE PARTS INSIDE

Exhibits from the Museum of Electrical Philosophy

Finally the Museum of Electrical Philosophy is open to the public. Well, some of it is.

As predicted in an earlier posting, an exhibition of selected works from the Museum of Electrical Philosophy is now open at Latrobe Street Gallery. Last week was spent in construction and installation - the stuff that always takes longer than I think it will - but that's what deadlines are for and as always it was met even if I didn't do quite everything I had planned.

Details: Latrobe Street Gallery, 301 Latrobe St, Melbourne (between Queen and Elizabeth). Open 11-5 (often 10-6), Monday-Friday, until 24 April. Phone (03) 9606 0933.

The post below has some images from the show - a bit quick and dirty but they will do for now.

Gallery report (1)

NO USER-SERVICEABLE PARTS INSIDE

Exhibits from the Museum of Electrical Philosophy

1. Gas Laws: Robert Boyle meets O2D2

Dimensions variable

2. History of the Electric Mixer Part 1: the Incredible Lightness of Beating

60 x 60 x 30 cm

3. Binary Random Number Generator with External Null Point Indicator

60 x 240 x 30 cm

4—6. The Foucault Structuralism Series starring the incredible Foucault twins Léon (1819-68) and Michel (1926-84)

4. Whirling Dervishes study improvisation

60 x 60 x 30 cm

5. Foucault and the horse he rode in on

60 x 60 x 30 cm

6. Whirling Dervishes study synchronised swimming

60 x 60 x 30 cm

7. Still Life with Death Ray Emitter (Do not stare into laser with remaining eye)

60 x 60 x 30 cm

8. History of the Electric Mixer Part 2: Semak anticipates the microwave oven

60 x 60 x 45 cm

9. Face Crumpets Inward

60 x 60 x 45 cm

Open for business again

Well gosh, look at the time. Has it really been that long between postings? In that time there have been a couple of impatient knockings on the virtual door but I figured if I ignored them they might go away.

Anyway the silence here does not mean the Museum has been inactive. On the contrary, the staff have been quite busy preparing new exhibits for a forthcoming exhibition, details of which will follow (but not today).

Meanwhile, here are a couple of recently completed works. What you can't see from these images is that these are both kinetic devices. Yes they move, but not too fast, about 3 cycles per minute.


Figure 1: Henry's Toaster. Alert visitors will notice a superficial similarity to Hooke's Toaster (qv).



Figure 2: Untitled (10 dervishes).

We'll be back right after this break...

The Museum of Electrical Philosophy is grateful for the support of its principal sponsor, the Lux Corporation. If you aren't aware of them that's a measure of their effectiveness. And I wouldn't have mentioned them here if their presence had not recently been noted by respected security analyst Nick Selby at http://www.nickselby.com/yak. The only other thing I will say is that the organisation to which I refer is in no way related to Lux Products Corporation, manufacturers of thermostats and other fine equipment since 1912. Nor to any other company you may have heard of. That's the way they are.

Retrospection

This is as good a time as any to record some of the Museum's earlier exhibits. Starting with Hooke's Toaster. Other archival items will follow in due course and according to the whim of our Documentation Manager.

Mixer Mitosis redux et seq.

After a week or so, the mechanised mixer (see below) was modified by suspending it and getting rid of the bracket it was previously taped to. This was, we believe, an improvement both aesthetically and mechanically, and it was gratifying to find that the whole system was remarkably stable with just an engaging skerrick of wobble as the crank re-engaged with the handle on each revolution. Which just goes to show that our previous mental analysis of the forces had not been so great.

But now the mixer is offstage again. In its place is a reworking of the astable capacitor/relay system with strobe effects in the fan. And a counter. That doesn't really describe it too well; guess you need to see it.

Another discarded microwave oven has been collected. We have plans but don't expect to see it in the window box any time soon: it's too big. And we have taken delivery of some new (not recycled) microwave motors and other components. This does not represent a policy shift, it's just that have no need to be precious about reuse and recycle.

s

Mixer mitosis

The electric semaphore mixer has been replaced by manual mixer with auxiliary power attachment. Early critical reviews have been favourable.

Further developments

The Museum was visited today by Bion Balding, director of the Latrobe Street Gallery. The proposed exhibition has now been rescheduled for early 2008, probably February-March.

Work has been progressing well in the Museum's technical research department, particularly in the developing the application of intermittent timers.

It must be admitted however that any progress in the laboratories has been partly at the expense of the public display area where not a lot has happened recently. The Electric Semaphore Mixer remains as a static display most of the time, with occasional test flights of intermittent power. The tests have been limited because they use mains voltage (230V AC) with exposed connections that would not receive the blessing of any safety audit or public liability insurer. But after all the research department is not a public place and visitors are warned not to touch.

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Winterlude

There are moves to have an open studio day (or two) in the Nicholas Building in late August. The Museum will probably participate depending a bit on the date(s) and how prepared we are. Some artists are apparently keen to open their doors; others of course regard the studio as a private work space and only want their work to be seen on completion and in the gallery.

Coincidentally the Museum of Electrical Philosophy was planning to take its show on the road around that time. Well, out of the building at least, and to Latrobe Gallery (303 Latrobe St). This will give us a space somewhat bigger than the window in the door. So the open day could be a useful rehearsal for some of the works. Stay tuned.

Catching up with 2007 already

I know it looks like the blogmeister fell asleep at the wheel for a couple of months but really he's been awake, just doing other stuff. Not that it matters much since as far as I can tell no one reads this anyway.

Following the reprise of the Whirling Madonna at the Museum over Christmas, we then went into a more, um, introspective mode with the fuseboard (rear view) followed later by the black box.

Now it's time to update again. My neighbours in the Nicholas Building get bored after a couple of weeks and I don't think the current work was a great hit so it is definitely overdue for retirement. Unfortunately I have missed Fashion Week but Easter is coming up soon and then there will be Anzac Day... the possibilities are endless.

December update

The emitter-collector pair has had its dayand has been moved back inside. Rotating Madonna asked to come back for a pre-Christmas performance, and who am I to deny her? But only for a brief reprise: we now have given over the prized window space to understanding telephony.

A few days ago the Museum opened its door to the public gaze for the first time to celebrate the end of this momentous year with a few friends and neighbours. The usual unsightly working stuff was pushed out of sight; shelves were not only cleared but cleaned. While this rare state of viewability continues other interested persons may wish to come and have a look - we don't keep regular opening hours so email me in advance to make a time.

Emissions

This week we take a walk through the electric field and contemplate the relation between electrostatics and microwave emitters.

Wassmann Institute

Thanks to Sophie Vogt for her contribution to the previous posting. For more about the work of Johann Dieter Wassmann I strongly recommend you follow her suggestion and visit http://museumzeitraum.blogspot.com/

Thanks again to Mark for his further commentary on the museum with his latest posting on his blog http://markcritic.artsblogs.com/blog/blog.asp?blogId=8551

Mark raises some interesting ideas about museums, about the whole business of putting stuff on display, about post-Dada fringe, and much more. He has a more academic approach than I but then he wrote a Master's thesis on Duchamp so he would, wouldn't he.

I am also reminded of an exhibition, part of the Melbourne Festival in (I think) 2003. Titled ' Bleeding Napoleon – the works of Johann Dieter Wassmann' it purported to be a tribute to the work of a 19th-century German sanitation engineer, but was in fact the creation of a local artist whose name eludes at this moment but I will look it up so stay tuned.

New display

There is a new work in the window now and this week it's a nod to Euclid, the man who gave us classical geometry. No, I haven't forsaken electricity for mathematics. There is a link between the two but I'm not going into that now - you'll have to see it for yourself.

I should however mention that behind the Museum (in concept not geography) there is an overlap of science and mathematics which reflects the Director's personal background and inevitably informs his artistic practice, such as it is.

Critical acclaim

This week the Museum celebrates its first review with a link to Mark Holsworth's blog at http://markcritic.artsblogs.com/blog/blog.asp?entryId=69892. As you will see, Mark posted this over a month ago on 30 September during the Fringe Festival but I only just found it a few days back.

Earlier statement

This was written as an artist's statement for an exhibition July 2005 Same idea as the longer statement posted earlier except specifically relating to the exhibition at King's...

The underlying theme of these works is our perception and uncertainty regarding electricity, especially in a domestic environment. Despite our familiarity with electricity at an everyday level it remains an invisible inexplicable force, tinged with fear, mystery and connotations of both pain and sexuality. At home our domestic appliances are taken for granted, and a simple light globe seems harmless enough with its warmly glowing filament. But even the familiar microwave carries a subtext of menace from the mysterious rays behind that shielded door.

We trust electricity – up to a point. Keep it in its place, don’t let it out. A light beside your bed is fine but lights in your bedsprings? These works try to show that a slight shift in the spatial or functional relationship between everyday objects can ruin your day, or at least significantly affect our emotional responses.

Don’t touch. No user-serviceable parts inside. The warning signs ostensibly protect us but at the same time they also reinforce our fear. Science museums, teachers and other white-coated experts ostensibly tried to educate us about electricity while exploiting our apprehension with their don’t-try-this-at-home demonstrations. This collection of works tries to bring these contrasting aspects of electricity together.

About the Museum of Electrical Philosophy

This is the start of an ongoing excursion into thoughts and images relating in some way or another to electricity and museums.

It is an online parallel to the physical exhibits at the public display area of the Museum of Electrical Philosophy which can be found on the 6th floor of the Nicholas Building.

The rationale of the Museum of Electrical Philosophy is to explore the visual representation of interactions between electricity and human thoughts and emotions. In particular the museum’s exhibits, together with their associated documentation and signage, are concerned with feelings of fear, bewilderment, uncertainty, sexuality, pain, self-awareness... and any combination of these and more.

Electricity remains a mysterious, almost magical phenomenon for many people - and perhaps most. This is despite two centuries or more of observation and theory that preceded our current era of technological vanity. In that time what was once called ‘natural philosophy’ has been refined, reborn and renamed as ‘science’. More than just a lexicographical refinement, this came with a paradigm shift from the realm of thought to knowledge, from observation and wonder to theories and definitions, from humility before God to the arrogance of technology.

And yet the magic remains, despite the physics, the equations and unattainably uncertain world of electrons. If anything the physical existence of wires and silicon chips and all the other paraphernalia only adds to the mystery of it all while the diagrams and symbols of textbooks are as arcane to the general population today as the alchemist’s were yesterday.

Not surprisingly the mystery and inexplicability of electricity can be found in art, both implicitly and explicitly. When Michelangelo showed God reaching out to give life to Adam, their outstretched fingers could easily be read as electrodes, positive and negative, carrying energy from one cosmic level to another. On a different scale, Walter De Maria’s ‘Lightning Field’ embraced the incalculable energy of the atmosphere.

In the centuries between these two artists came the experimenters. Volta made dead frogs jump and thought he had found the spark of life; Edison proposed the spark of death in the form of the electric chair. Today we switch on a light or read an online blog, but for most of us our conceptualisation is little different from the realm of ‘influence machines’ of the 19th century.

It is in this context of mystery and magic that the Museum of Electrical Philosophy offers its collection of drawings. Not drawings in the sense of marks on paper but images and objects that are drawn (or derived) from electrically related concepts. The electric shock remains a potent source of fear, the electric lamp carries messages of more than illumination. The lightning bolt remains as a universally recognised symbol of danger and the risk of death. Nothing is sure; all is uncertain; this is the philosophy.