Structural amendments

Although the Museum has been without a physical presence for several months now, there is hope that this unfortunate condition may change within our lifetime. Work has begun at a secret mist-shrouded site as evidenced in this photograph which was purportedly obtained by a lurking friend of MoEP recently. We confidently expect that the final structure will have not one but four walls and probably a roof. Confirmation of this will be posted in due course, perhaps. A completion date has not yet been announced.

Meanwhile the Director's temporary accommodation has itself undergone some degree of further change. Much of the Museum's priceless research material has been packed and transferred to a secure off-site bunker. And before too long the administrative functions may also be relocated, along with the Director and staff. Details may follow if we get round to it.

Regional Development

As the year draws to a close, and taking with it we hope the close of several of its less than affirmative developments, it can now be revealed that plans have begun for the Museum's next physical incarnation. Plans both concrete, as in lines on peper, and abstract as in visions.

On the concrete front - well not so much a front as a concrete base with a front more likely of wood - a plan of sorts has been submitted to our glorious local authorities for their approval. It is envisaged that this site will before too long be the Museum's first regional campus, its principal research facility where ideas can flourish and focus, can foment and ferment, and freely fertilized by salt air and the call of the cockatoo, find fruition.

Admittedly at the moment all we have what is what is known in the development world as a greenfields site. Which, thanks to all the rain we've had in recent months, is actually green, except for the small brown mounds that are ant nests. It is hoped that Al will be able to begin construction early in 2011.

In more abstract developments, it is intended that in addition to the regional R&D facility there will be a new display facility at an inner-urban location to replace in some way our former and lamented presence at the Nicholas Building. Details yet to be resolved will be communicated here in due course.

Noted

We don't get out much and so it has only just come to our attention that back in February the itinerant Melbourne art critic Mark Holsworth wrote some nice things about the Museum in his blog Melbourne Art and Culture Critic .

Thanks Mark. And even though we are no longer in the Nicholas Building, the spirit lives on and the physical manifestation will be returning before long.

But we do have Melbourne

Since his return to Melbourne in early July, the director has been engaged for much of the time in the relocation of the Museum - a dismal but necessary chore made necessary by unpleasant external forces which have been alluded to elsewhere.

Unfortunately the move has meant the Museum has had to suspend its popular display programme. Fortunately most of the completed works have been successfully relocated to temporary premises courtesy of the Kitchener Institute. Despite the current inconvenience there is nevertheless a small benefit to be found among all the disruption, in that the enforced furlough now provides an opportunity for maintenance and repairs which had been a tad neglected. There has also been a necessary culling of the museum's research material.

We no longer have Paris

Paris is still there of course but we - the Director and staff - aren't. News since the previous posting has been scarce for many reasons, mostly unconvincing. We could blame the limited computer facilities in Paris, or the limited spare time, or the limited subject matter, but it would all be somewhat specious and irrelevant.

As a postscript to the previous post it cannot go unremarked that M Gramme stands in bronze in the forecourt of the much-admired Musée des Arts et Metiers which the Director visited on several occasions during his research trip.

And there is much one could (and possibly will) say about le Musée des Arts et Metiers. For now we will merely record the satisfaction of seeing there a model of Henry Maudslay's steam table engine

Paris report

We are pleased to be able to report some observations from Paris where the director is currently engaged in further research and liaison with corresponding organisations.

We had hoped to renew a long-standing and valued association with the Belgian office of the Kitchener Institute, however it was not possible due to their principal's urgent departure to Melbourne. Ironic, some might say; others might see instead an elegant (even fearful) symmetry.

And speaking of Belgians (which we aren't very often) we were more successful with a visit to the memorial for Zénobe Théophile Gramme at the Père-Lachaise cemetery. M Gramme, who is credited with the first commercial dynamo, does not get about much these days. We understand he is also honoured at the renowned Musée des Arts et Metiers, which is also on the director's itinerary.

Re:location

We are saddened to report that the Museum of Electrical Philosophy will soon lose its physical presence in Melbourne's historic Nicholas Building. Our operating budget has been under considerable pressure in the past year or so and now we have a 25% rent increase. So that's it for a while.

The archived works, works under construction and our incomparable collection of research material will go into temporary storage onsite, thanks to the cooperation of our neighbour André who will be taking over the premises progressively.

It is hoped some alternative location can be found when the director returns from study leave in July. His research proposal refers to several European museums, and it is hoped he will be diligent in posting reports of his research here from time to time.

Philosophy vs engineering

Work continues on the new - well, newish - research project, studying the relationship between the falling annular disc and the helical column. Or the washer and the threaded rod if you prefer. And it must be acknowledged that the museum's strength, such as it is, lies more with the electrical than with the mechanical.

As noted last month, we achieved some success in the electrical circuitry for retrieving the washer. (With thanks to our leading consultant who having helped with our problem is now solving Belgium.) The next step was the design of the lift mechanism and the sliding magnet carriage.

First design of the lift used a continuous up/down loop, not unlike the string that once moved the pointer on the radio dial, when we had mechanical devices like knobs and those nice multi-plate variable capacitors where if you looked closely you could almost see the electrons leaping the void... but I digress. Well it seemed like a good idea at the time but the string wanted to migrate along the shaft which would have led to longer paths and tensioning devices and all in all mitigated against a compact design.

So now we are trying the fishing reel model - wind it up, let it down. Stay tuned

About the Nicholas Building

It has only recently come to our attention that the ABC Arts website has a short video item about the Nicholas Building and some of its tenants. There is no mention of this Museum, but the view of the cathedral across the road is the same as the Director enjoys from his office. He would enjoy it more if we cleaned the windows.

Try www.abc.net.au/arts/stories/s2724520.htm but we don't know how long it will remain available.

Current research

Current research has been focused on a problem that has been at the back of our minds for a few years. We now appear to be close to completion of the prototype, and must acknowledge the significant contribution of a close Friend of the Museum who has been unstinting with his technical advice and encouragement.

This is a larger work which won't conform to the Museum's regular 60-cm diorama. Scale matters and frankly a smaller version just would not do the job. Something will be arranged somehow.

We can't say much at this stage about the work or the embodied principles, but we can reveal that it incorporates a magnet, a motor and bits of hardware. And of course some electricity.

And as Bob said: "It was gravity which pulled us down..."

Recent exhibits

Despite the lack of posting activity here, the Museum has not been entirely idle. Exhibits at the Nicholas Building have been changed.

For quite a while we had Whirling Dervishes Demonstrate the Formation of Stalactites. This was developed as a sequel to an earlier work, Whirling Dervishes Study Improvisation (shown below if you care to scroll down), and proved to be popular with the passing traffic. Photographs were taken and will be posted here if the archivist can be found.

More recently we released the current exhibit, provisionally titled The Rotary Bistable Oscillator: an Exploration. This too has received some favourable comments. And again, a photograph may appear before long.

There is now a website...

...that is, a website as distinct from this blog which was really only intended as a trial.

At this stage if you go to the site (go on, click that link - you know you want to) you won't find a lot apart from the images from the Latrobe St Gallery show. So to be honest it's even more content-poor than what you see here. But I like to think it's rich in potential.

And in case the links doesn't work the address is www.electricalphilosophy.com

I'm still here

As some of you have noticed, things have been quiet at the Museum in recent months. The Director has been working part-time with irregular hours and frankly we feel he has not been giving the position the attention it deserves. Nevertheless we remain positive and confident that further developments will be visible soon.

Two recent events suggest that this is more than simply naive optimism. First, we were encouraged to receive an enquiry from a total stranger with a request for an appointment to visit the Museum. Second, the windows overlooking Swanston St have been cleaned.

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.