Monday 5th — Monday 12th of September 2016
The artwork is ready, I have spent this last week completing the recording of three Chinese singers who very kindly accepted to collaborate on this project.
The recording sessions took place at a music studio in central London; each singer sang in Chinese Mandarin, according to their individual vocal range. They are: Chen Wang, Cinde Lee and Teresa Feng.
I am pretty satisfied with the results, their voices are simply beautiful and they will contribute a lot in creating the right atmosphere for the piece.
There has been a lot of editing, cutting down all voices, so that they will be reassembled in real time, through a custom piece of software, that will select the voices and the notes and numbers, according to the forecast of the Shanghai Stock Exchange. These numbers will be arriving next week, when I will already be on my way to Shanghai.
Friday 2nd of September 2016
The structural part of the sculpture is a folded and simplified representation of the last few financial years of the Shanghai Stock Exchange; it will be made out of extruded elements of aluminium, the same that are normally employed to build temporary workspaces for both offices and factories. It will look like a metallic skeleton, and still it will look light enough to contrast with the black screeprinted panels that will be hanging from it.
I have spent much of the past months, calculating how big the piece will be, in relation to the space available and to the necessary material I will be using. It is an interesting practice, as it involves design, engineering and the final craft in building the piece, by also keeping into account that it will have to be closed down in a few crates, in order to be transported to China, where it will have to be reassembled.
Thursday 25th—27th of August 2016
I spent the last two days at the screenprinting studio with Faye McNulty.
All test prints from the previous session have been tested at my studio, in order to assess the coefficient of conductivity; this was done in order to make sure the panels will react to the audience, when connected to electronics and become part of the sculpture I am developing.
Form and function; it was not only about the aesthetics of the piece, but also, and ultimately perhaps even more importantly, it was about making sure the final prints were going to be suitable for the interaction, from a technical standpoint.
As usual, as this is not a precise science, everything feels pretty much experimental as we will only know once the whole printing drying process is completed; screenprinting is such a fascinating and lengthy process, there I so much calculation that goes into preparing for it. So much in stark contrast with the ultrafast nature of the data, the prints will be using in order to actuate the interaction.
After two and half days of work, thanks to Faye’s great skills, the panels are now ready to be taken to my studio where they will be installed on the structure I am building.
Thursday 18th of August 2016
Today, together with the amazing FayeMcNulty at the PrintAll studios, we tested some of the dies she prepared for the printing of the panels. As the fabric tends to stretch, and the conductive paint is rater brittle when dry, Faye has developed a wonderful mix of an elastic medium and different type of conductive materials, among which the Bare Electric Paint.
The final tests look amazing. We waited for them to dry, then Faye ‘baked’ them in the oven and I took them to my studio and tested their conductivity.
It is pretty exciting to be working in an area for which there aren’t any written rules, there is a pioneering feeling in all of this.
And yes, screenprinting takes such a long time, but the results can be pretty well rewarding.
As usual, good things come to those who wait.
Thursday 11th of August 2016
The electronics that govern the interaction of the installation, will be kept safe and clean, inside custom boxes that I have put together during the last couple of days. I am building the encasing so that the electronics can be accessed easily in case anything happens during the two weeks of the show.
Every time the audience will touch or come very close to one of the screenprinted panels, a signal will be sent to one of these beauties.
A database containing the forecast of the financial market, as it was prepared for the days of the duration of the show, will be used to generate the words that will be announced through the voice of the choir of singers.
So much information, in such tiny black boxes.
