The Stress Machine
Microphone, <What Is Contemporary Art?> by Sternberg Press, Arduino UNO, Portable Battery, DC
Motor, Portable Bluetooth Speaker, Sound Sensor, AA Battery, Duct Pipe, 90° Adjustable Elbow, MacBook Pro.
Motor, Portable Bluetooth Speaker, Sound Sensor, AA Battery, Duct Pipe, 90° Adjustable Elbow, MacBook Pro.
6’’ x 5’ – 7
The Stress Machine is a product of research about the relationship between the artist and the audiences in the situation of encountering or experiencing the art piece. In the exhibition scene, artists job is to embody their thought in any form and propose their works onto the public sphere; however, viewers job is to consume the artists’ work and their thoughts. While experiencing the art work, most of the viewers do not try to reflect themselves onto the artists’ pieces, but they consume just what the artists suggest assuming that artists’ works are ‘good’. It needs a practice and study to read art and make the art piece own during the process of consuming any form of art. Relatively, visual art tends to be less direct and inconsiderate than music or audio art when the experiencers encounter the art works.
Through the Stress Machine, I wanted to question about the continuation of antagonism and conflict between the artist and the viewer. In side of the columns, there are DC motors ready to start scratching the metals as a sound goes into the microphone on the stool. The sound from the microphone is sent to MacBook then to the Bluetooth speaker that is also placed in the column. Then the sound sensor which is connected to Arduino picks up the sound from the speaker and activates the DC motor. The sound of scratching sheet metal is what I consider the stressful sound. It also recall the sound of nature; however, the artificiality in the production of the natural-like sound occurs irritation. As I consider the act of reading the book about the contemporary art to a symbolic representation of consuming art, my goal is to irritate and aggravate the viewers while consuming art. So that eventually one could not finish the consumption or endure the stress in order to consume the artists’ thoughts.
Is it a good consumption of art if one has to go through the stress? If the answer is yes, is that way of consumption a right way? Or if the answer is no, where and how should one find a way to consume art in a better way?
