Herwig Weiser - Zgodlocator, Version 3.0, 1998-2002

A computer's hard disk is a static storage medium, whereas the computer itself is a dynamic medium capable of handling rapid information streams. For this particular project hundreds of hard disks have been ground to grit.
Visitors can manipulate this magnetically sensitive grit into
freakish landscapes and patterns(hardware_live modelling) through
strong magnetic fields that are
controlled by a number of buttons.In Zgodlocator information streams
form alchemistic compounds with
hard matter.

Zgodlocator is a memory machine
that functions according to the
magnetic principles of a computer's
hard disk and organizes tiny metal
particles. In Zgodlocator these particles are in fact ground
computer parts that are magnetically sensitive.


Unlike a computer's hard disk,
Zgodlocator does not concern itself
with the long-term storage of text
or images. Zgodlocator has a dynamic nature and, typically, has a very short and fast changing memory. In this sense the installation focuses on the dynamic aspects of the computer and not so much on the computer as just a storage medium. It stresses the
continuous reprocessing of information and the reconstructing of dynamic archives that are constantly changing because users actively use them and because the material is also organized by the computer itself.

By rotating small dials, the audience
may manipulate the magnetic fields
generated by Zgodlocator, and, as a
result, the granulated computer
grit, that looks like black metal
filings, forms freakish and
constantly changing shapes. In
Zgodlocator , magnetism becomes a
dynamic container for storing, but
also for manipulating and processing information in its most raw and plastic form, that is,matter.

The various components of a personal computer are stripped of their industrial functions; hardware is dismantled, sorted and granulated (circuit
boards, hard drives, processors,
monitor deflectors et cetera).
These hardware sands are laid on
electromagnetic grids, triggering
sudden transformations of the
granular landscape; the particles
react to the magnetic stimulations
by forming singular and abrupt
sculptural accumulations.


The keyboard enables the user
to select, mix and overlap
geometric rastered patterns mapped
instantly on the hardware-desert. A
variety of contact microphones and
electromagnetic sensors are set up
in the hardware soils. The
"hardware-sounds" are captured and processed,initializing feedbacks modulated by the user. The program encodes the raw audio and converts it into graphic patterns mixed with the
keyboard input. The output is
instantly visualized in the
granular landscape (live).

http://www.zgodlocator.org/index.php

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• interactive
• art
• tangiable
• interafce
• magnetically
• sensitive
• aesthetic
• landscape
• sound
• control
• alchemistic
• Transmediale

[ukisda]

echt beeindruckend!! freu mich auf die ausstellung in wien.

[DonCorleoneDeSicilia]

great stuff

[kukelz]

omg your doomed now...............

[kukelz]

wtf this is COOL i luuuuv that green stuff thing ehh

[runemonk1]

LOCATE Z GOD! And no, I'm not going to start off the whole "first thing" GODDAMMIT! I JUST DID IT! NOOOO!