Reading Anne Alombert made me want to read more Derrida; super lucid as well as maddeningly obscure, but also adressing some of the main themes that attracted me to cybernetics.
#SystemsThatMatter
Very happy I was able to see a small but precious exhibition of some of the 'pierres figurées' collected by Roger Caillois. At the École des Arts Joailliers in Paris.
Due to previous life choices I find myself building this cute see-through oven prototype. A whole new level of fiddly: unfamiliar and funny materials and none of my trusted construction methods allowed due to risk of meltdown.
Today the mailman brought these two beautiful booklets, from 1907 and 1921. Both are by Otto Lehmann, the first scientist to study liquid crystals. Until a friendly person on Mastodon pointed it out to me, I did not realize that in the early 20th century liquid crystals played a role in the discussion between mechanists and vitalists, being organized but not rigid. Lehmann often wrote about characteristics they shared with organisms.
Today I learned some things about thermocouples and how to measure high temperatures. Hard to test anything at this stage though.
Finally reading this history of the invention of the transistor: I've had it for a while and initially I was put off by the 'narrative' writing according to which the protagonists are 'gaunt', 'austere', 'taciturn', 'agitated', Americans are 'practical men' and European locations invariably 'drab' or 'dusty'. But it is also very well researched and full of interesting background.
Being mainly a maker of films, it is quite rare that I get to ship a physical installation. My installation #71.1 from 2019 is now underway to Paris where it will be part of the 'Deep Fields' exhibition at the Centre Wallonie Bruxelles.
Like in many languages, the Dutch word for potassium is 'kali', from the Arabic القالِي, al-qaly, for calcinated ashes. This is strange, because the English word 'potassium' comes from the Dutch 'potas': ash in a pot.
Hadn't used one of these in a long time.
#GP2Y0A21YK0F #71.1 #DialoguesWithMachines #SystemsThatMatter
Snapshot of my installation #71.1 from 2019.
An extremely lucid and inspiring book; highly recommended.
#AnneAlombert #JacquesDerrida #GilbertSimondon #SystemsThatMatter
I got this book because of one (long) chapter, but ended up reading it from cover to cover.
Wax printed fabrics for sale in Paris.
Snapshot of my installation #71.1 from 2019.
Revisiting an old piece is like decrypting messages from another life form, even with documentation that I thought was copious when I made it.
Very fresh from the press: the "Vašulkas Reloaded" reader published by the Vašulka Kitchen in Brno. On the inside of the cover it has these very cool image sequences encoded into lenticular images. Most of the content is related to the Vašulkas Reloaded symposium that was held in Brno in October 2024. I contributed a text to the reader and I am in the great company of Miloš Vojtěchovský, Larisa Dryansky and others.
A promising bouquet of books by Anne Alombert.
I am not buying oscilloscopes anymore but my only portable (luggable) scope recently died, so I got something a lot smaller but still vintage: this cute Sony/Tektronix 335, from 1976 I believe.
Perhaps the cutest book I (now) have; after a fairly thorough physical explanation of blacklight it contains many suggestions of suitable costumes to make, sets to construct, dances to dance, and songs to sing for your blacklight parties. Early 1950s: another era for sure.
Figuring out how to build things that resist high temperatures: no glue, no solder, no plastic, no tape; only ceramics, glass, copper and steel.
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