Brittan Dale Rosendahl

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Ebony And Entropy.

Looped Video_ Hand painted ornamentation on flea market portrait.

2011.

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Positive Pulse. Resurrection of Form.

The purpose of this exercise is to create a functioning system that can through various arrangements and ordering, correlate unfamiliar audio and visual sensations. Each configuration of telephones varies the resulting visual and audible sensation where shape and form couple with sound and pattern. No particular meaning is prescribed to any displayed set of elements, instead the matter is left open to audience interpretation. In a particular showing a constant visual variable would exist, this being the arrangement of the individual phones as they hang. Audible variables include the number of phones ringing per pulse, duration of ring, and whether or not the phones ring in secession with overlap or ring all together at once. The minimum and maximum window of time between rings is also a controlled variable, but all data is established randomly using a number generator. In this first showing a plus symbol was the decided upon final arrangement, selected for being a general symbol of positivity.

The antique phones, which vary in date, 1950’s through 1970’s, were selected for the heavy black aesthetic of their casing, an aesthetic found in several other pieces of this exhibition. The exhibition titled: What Goes Down Must Come Up. Trial. Ascension. Requisite., for the most part, assembled a number of pieces that held at their base, a unit which had become emptied of its energy through over use or the passing of time. Positive Pulse, along with other works of similar theme, were included in this exhibition to embody a current cultural phenomenon discussed in Nicolas Bourriaud’s essay: Postproduction. Culture As Screenplay: How Art Reprograms The World. The phenomenon he speaks to is best described as a current state of accessibility to rich sources of pooling information, primarily the internet and the thrift market, held by contemporary artists.

16 total phones were collected using the thrift market, antique stores, and websites such as Ebay. The grid can activate patterns utilizing 14 phones however only 13 were used in this arrangement. The power source we assembled maxed out at 5 ringing phones per pulse. We chose 4 as our limit as to not continuously max out our source. We considered this a safe allotment allowing the system to survive the duration of the exhibition. Positive Pulse was displayed 5 days a week over the month of November, 2012, in the Bemis Underground at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, Ne. During this period, we encountered no system error.

The shows reuse of stagnant forms and their re-energizing was action we felt not dissimilar to the topic of resurrection. Our resurrection occurs in the manipulation of new components to again offer vitality and fresh meaning to antiquated items. Centered in the gallery, it was intended that each pulse could bring the wandering gallery viewer back to the shows central themes. It was also noted that in Eastern religious practice chimes are used to clear and cleanse a space of negative energies. Since several other pieces of the exhibition dealt with imagery of “ascending” or “ascended” figures as well as incorporating shrine like manners of display, we felt it a proper correlation. However, the ringing sometimes had a startling effect on gallery viewers. Ironic certainly, it was referred to as “annoying though seemingly effective” by one local critic, then poignantly validated by the ringing cellular device in his pocket which both mimicked and drove home the pieces relevance.

Go to www.brittanrosendahl.tumblr.com for pictures of the exhibition: What Goes Down Must Come Up: Trial. Ascension. Requisite.

Additional info at:

http://www.bemiscenter.org/art/exhibitions/brittan-rosendahl.html

http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/irvinem/theory/Bourriaud-Postproduction2.pdf

Controlling a telephone ringer is an interesting technical challenge. Telephones operate on a 90 Volt, 25-40 Hertz power line making it rather difficult to produce “ringer voltage”. If, for example, you plug the telephone ringer into a standard US wall socket, it will most certainly fry the ringer, or worse.

To make things easier, a device called a Tele-Q was purchased. The Tele-Q’s sole purpose is to produce a ringer voltage (which makes the telephone ring). Tele-Q’s have been designed for theater productions, and therefore are reliable and easy to operate.

To control the Tele-Q, an Arduino UNO microprocessor package was used. The Arduino is an open source microprocessor package that allows for custom programs to be written, loaded, and executed. The basic goal for our program was to have the Arduino make multiple telephones (a random number between 1 and 5) ring at random times (Between 3 and 10 minute spacings).

Overview of Circuit:

The Arduino has a total of 14 digital outputs. The goal was to create a circuit that rings a telephone when a digital output turns “high” (produces a voltage). To accomplish this, two basic things had to happen. First, the Tele-Q would have to be turned on, allowing ringer voltage to be produced. Second, a switch(s) would have to be turned on, allowing the Tele-Q’s voltage to reach the desired telephone(s).

Circuit Breakdown:

Arduino:

Each telephone corresponded to one digital output on the arduino. In addition, one output also controlled the Tele-Q. The following code was loaded to the arduino, making a telephone hooked up to pin 3 (see diagram) ring for 1 second, every other second. Note that the TeleQ is hooked up to pin 2.

// give each used pin a name:

int TeleQ = 2;

int Ringer1 = 3;

// initialize the digital pin as an output.

pinMode(TeleQ, OUTPUT);

pinMode(Ringer1, OUTPUT);

}

// the loop routine runs over and over again forever:

void loop() {

digitalWrite(TeleQ, HIGH); // turn the TeleQ on (HIGH is the voltage level)

digitalWrite(Ringer1,HIGH); // turn the Ringer1 on

// delay(1000); // wait for a second (TeleQ is making the phone ring)

// digitalWrite(TeleQ, LOW); // turn the TeleQ off by making the voltage LOW

// digitalWrite(Ringer1,LOW); // Switch off the Ringer 1

// delay(1000); // wait for a second

} (Repeat)

This code is a useful tool to diagnose your circuit during installation or to trouble shoot if one encounters error during exhibition. Phones are wired directly so that a completed circuit initiates a movement in the double gong ringer. With thirteen phones in the system, this code allows one to easily determine whether one is having an issue in programming or with hardware and assess that all phones are ready to work with the more advanced program.

Darlington Array:

The Darlington Array acts as a switch to ground the 12V relays. When a voltage is applied to the array’s pin 1 (the voltage comes from the output from the Arduino’s pin going high for a set period of time) it causes its corresponding pin (the pin on the opposite side) to be grounded.

12V Relay:

The 12V relays are the switches that actually turn on and off the telephones and the Tele-Q. A 12V power source is hooked up to one side of the relay (see diagram). The other side of the relay is hooked up to the Darlington Array (see diagram). Again, when the Arduino sends a voltage to an input pin on the Darlington Array, it causes the corresponding pin (opposite side) to go to ground. When this occurs, it causes the Relay to be grounded, thus turning it on. When the Relay is turned on, it switches on its other pins, allowing for the Tele-Q and telephones to work.

Diode:

A diode is put across the relay to help minimize the back EMF generated as a result of the relay turning on or off. It’s not important enough to go into, but the diode is very important to use!

Recap:

To recap this process: The purpose of this circuit is to create a functioning system that could through various arrangements and ordering, correlate unfamiliar audio and visual sensations. To have definitive hands off control over this, a programmable microprocessor is used. The microprocessor, in conjunction with the Darlington Array, acts as a switch to turn on or off the relays. When the Arduino tells a pin to go high, the Darlington Array completes the circuit for the relay, thus turning it on. By having multiple outputs on the Arduino, and multiple inputs on the Darlington Array, one is able to control multiple relays, and thus phones.

Source Code for Project:

The following is the code that was used for the installation:

int relay1 = 0;

int relay2 = 1;

int relay3 = 2;

int relay4 = 3;

int relay5 = 4;

int relay6 = 5;

int teleq = 6;

int relay8 = 7;

int relay9 = 8;

int relay10 = 9;

int relay11 = 10;

int relay12 = 11;

int relay13 = 12;

int relay14 = 13;

// the setup routine runs once when you press reset:

void setup() {

// initialize the digital pin as an output.

pinMode(relay1,OUTPUT);

pinMode(relay2,OUTPUT);

pinMode(relay3,OUTPUT);

pinMode(relay4,OUTPUT);

pinMode(relay5,OUTPUT);

pinMode(relay6,OUTPUT);

pinMode(teleq,OUTPUT);

pinMode(relay8,OUTPUT);

pinMode(relay9,OUTPUT);

pinMode(relay10,OUTPUT);

pinMode(relay11,OUTPUT);

pinMode(relay12,OUTPUT);

pinMode(relay13,OUTPUT);

pinMode(relay14,OUTPUT);

}

// the loop routine runs over and over again forever:

void loop() {

digitalWrite(relay1,HIGH);

digitalWrite(teleq,HIGH);