夢との交信：グラハム・ベル
「ブレイクへ送った検体 ( 死人の耳) にG( ソ) の音で歌った音の記録の手紙」の再生実験
Contact of Dream: Experimental image reproduction of a Letter to Blake from Bell. Sung to G
(as his initial Graham) using a dead body's ear(Specimen) by Graham Bell
2020
1874 年の図版をアメリカ議会図書館Manuscript Division [unless another division is specified], Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers at the Library of Congressデジタルデータ(パブリックドメイン)よりトレースし復元
Scratching a smoke glass tracing a digital data (from 1874) of Library of Congress, Manuscript Division [unless another division is specified], Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers at the Library of Congress (Public Domain)
「ブレイクへ送った検体 ( 死人の耳) にG( ソ) の音で歌った音の記録の手紙」の再生実験
Contact of Dream: Experimental image reproduction of a Letter to Blake from Bell. Sung to G
(as his initial Graham) using a dead body's ear(Specimen) by Graham Bell
2020
1874 年の図版をアメリカ議会図書館Manuscript Division [unless another division is specified], Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers at the Library of Congressデジタルデータ(パブリックドメイン)よりトレースし復元
Scratching a smoke glass tracing a digital data (from 1874) of Library of Congress, Manuscript Division [unless another division is specified], Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers at the Library of Congress (Public Domain)
Bell’s ear phonautograph is a recording device with no playback function. It uses a needle attached to a corpse’s eardrum. A digitized letter from Bell to Clarence J. Blake about an experimental result was printed, and put at the back of a glass plate covered in soot. Afterwards, I exposed the glass plate to light and traced the description which could be vaguely seen.
In general, people tune sound to an A. But in the letter, it is suggested that Bell picked a G, the initial letter of his name, Graham. I wonder if he whispered his name as if he were talking to a person who unexpectedly became an unnamed specimen in the name of science and technology development.
While I was tracing the lines and thinking such things, I saw a reflection of myself on the glass plate and I realized G is also the first letter of my name — Gaetan.
In general, people tune sound to an A. But in the letter, it is suggested that Bell picked a G, the initial letter of his name, Graham. I wonder if he whispered his name as if he were talking to a person who unexpectedly became an unnamed specimen in the name of science and technology development.
While I was tracing the lines and thinking such things, I saw a reflection of myself on the glass plate and I realized G is also the first letter of my name — Gaetan.
トーマス・エジソン《エジソンティン フォイル１号機( 蘇言機)》復元
Thomas Edison "Edison tin foil phonograph called Sogon-ki (Voice revive machine) in Japan"(Replica)
Unknown (Original: 1877)
スチール
Steel
Thomas Edison "Edison tin foil phonograph called Sogon-ki (Voice revive machine) in Japan"(Replica)
Unknown (Original: 1877)
スチール
Steel
When the phonograph was first introduced into Japan, it was translated into Japanese as sogonki (voice reproduction device). As the nuanced meaning of the Chinese characters used in the word indicated “Device that revives voice”, the device probably suggested the ability to revive the dead or be able to “replay” their voice forever by recording their voice once. The microphone and speaker, which look like they are talking to a water well with an unseen bottom, have a unique shape that gives a sense of connection to the afterlife.
夢との交信：記録者不明「1887年円盤式地震 記録に記録された東京の揺れ」の再生実験
Contact of Dream: Experimental image reproducing of disk record of shake happened in Tokyo
on 1887 by unknown person
2020
1887年の青焼地震記録を東京大学地震研究所所蔵データより、ガラスにつけた煤を削りながらトレースし復元
Scratching smoked glass from a blueprint (recorded in 1887) of Earthquake Research Institute, The University of Tokyo.
Contact of Dream: Experimental image reproducing of disk record of shake happened in Tokyo
on 1887 by unknown person
2020
1887年の青焼地震記録を東京大学地震研究所所蔵データより、ガラスにつけた煤を削りながらトレースし復元
Scratching smoked glass from a blueprint (recorded in 1887) of Earthquake Research Institute, The University of Tokyo.
Seismic disk recordings worked by attaching a needle to the surface of a glass plate covered in soot, which then etched vibrations from an earthquake and made a copy of the seismic blueprint of the recorded data. This work is based on a full-scale copy of a blueprint of a recorded earthquake. I put a glass plate covered with soot on the copy, flooded the glass plate with light, then traced the data which could be vaguely seen.
As early records of earthquakes were taken with analog systems, the individuality of recorders are reflected strongly, including the density of soot and sensitivity of a needle. Tracing the data by hand makes it less realistic than if it was printed. However, I believe recording is a subjective action in the first place. The recorder of the blueprint was unknown.
As early records of earthquakes were taken with analog systems, the individuality of recorders are reflected strongly, including the density of soot and sensitivity of a needle. Tracing the data by hand makes it less realistic than if it was printed. However, I believe recording is a subjective action in the first place. The recorder of the blueprint was unknown.
ジェイムス・アルフレッド・ユーイング 《ユーイング型 円盤式地震計( 復元模型)》
Sir James Alfred Ewing "Ewing type Disk-recording Seismograph" (Replica)
Original was made in c1879
金属、藁、ガラス、煤、ニス
Metal, straw, glass, soot, vernish
Sir James Alfred Ewing "Ewing type Disk-recording Seismograph" (Replica)
Original was made in c1879
金属、藁、ガラス、煤、ニス
Metal, straw, glass, soot, vernish
James Alfred Ewing, who first introduced the phonograph to Japan, later invented the world’s first modern seismograph. It is interesting that the shape of recording devices developed from barrel to disk while the seismograph’s shape developed the other way around. It indicates how earthquakes and sounds have a close relationship. Although the displayed seismograph has instruments measuring two axes, east-west and north-south, a third instrument that measures vertical motion was added later. Seismic disk recordings and the “model showing the motion of an earth-particle during an earthquake” were recorded with the later version.
関谷清景《地震動軌跡模型》
SEKIYA Seikei (Kiyokage) "Model showing the motion of an earth-particle during an earthquake"
1887
銅線
Copper wire
SEKIYA Seikei (Kiyokage) "Model showing the motion of an earth-particle during an earthquake"
1887
銅線
Copper wire
SEKIYA Seikei was one of the first Japanese seismologists. He quantified the motions of east-west, north-south, and high-low using a disk recording seismograph. He enlarged the movement of land each second by 50 and made three-dimensional representations of this with wire. The model on the left shows the movement of the ground from the start of the earthquake to 21 seconds; the centre shows the ground movement from 22 seconds to 41 seconds after commencement, and the model on the right shows the movement from the last point up to 72 seconds.
音震遠感覚之図
Telesensation map of Sound and Vibrations
1887
コラージュ
Collage
Telesensation map of Sound and Vibrations
1887
コラージュ
Collage
I improvisationally made a collage of the materials I collected while making the artworks, and connected the dots. As I started to make the pieces for the exhibition during the COVID-19 pandemic, I wasn’t allowed to do some physical research, such as visiting libraries or interviewing people, when I started the project. So, I started to collect what I thought was a limited amount of digital online data but it grew well beyond the original scope and, as a result, I ended up drowning in a massive amount of data. I had to output the information to come back to reality. Placing my mouth and body in the centre, I added symbols and connected them like organs. This action seemed absurd, but also made me have a sense of doing something that is worth doing.