Ethan-Eaten: Electromagnetic Art

Jumat, 14 Oktober 2011

Electromagnetic Art

Compressed 1 & 2
by Kim Pimmel

A few months back I did a story about skeptical designer Jason Permenter, and one of his quotes has stuck with me ever since. When discussing his transformation from a working scientist into a person in a creative field, he talked about what he saw as an interesting relationship between the two disciplines.

"Turns out design is science, but with the peculiar goal of producing something lovely."

Hmmm. I'm fairly sure that such a statement would get philosophy of science fans protesting rather quickly. After all, art is almost certainly not a kind of science, nor could it ever be. It can use experiment as a technique of course, but at a fundamental level art is governed by different forces, and has different goals.* All that being said, art can certainly share some of science's characteristics from time to time.**

Take the timelapse videos of photographer Kim Pimmel. By combining various ferrous materials, water, magnets, bubblebath soap, timelapse cameras, and a healthy imagination; Kim experiments in such a way to produce awesome visuals. While it's not science, in that it's not attempting to verify a hypothesis, it's art that borrows some of science's brushstrokes, so to speak.

See the full gallery on Posterous

That's something unique about art, in that it can borrow the techniques of any other discipline or practice. For example, art once co-opted the carving techniques of early tool makers into sculpture, and it transformed the sewing of clothes into high fashion.*** This can happen because unlike science, art is not constrained by a series of rules about how it's made in order to be even defined as art. It can take endless forms, and utilize whichever techniques the artist desires.

In any case, have a look at Kim Pimmel's awesome 'sciency' timelapses. While there's no hypothesis being proven with these experiments, there's certainly something lovely being made.

Enjoy!

(In my personal opinion, part 2 is better, so make sure you stick around for it.)

*I'll admit that I'm poor at expressing the subtle minutiae of philosophical distinctions, which is why I've intentionally remained vague. Smarter people tackle the difference between art and science here.

**Which I'm sure is precisely how Jason meant it. Us skeptics. So pedantic.

***I'm also terrible at producing examples. If you have other examples of how art borrows the techniques of other practices, please leave them below in the comments section.

Also seen on Vidpicks!

More info:

Part1

Ferrous printer toner particles floating on the surface of water are attracted by a magnet and align to the invisible magnetic field around them. The patterns and motions that result are strangely ordered and organized.

Time-lapse sequences were created from individual photos shot with a Nikon D90, DIY macro lens and custom intervalometer. Edited with Adobe Premiere.

Sound created with Ableton Live.

Compressed Title Sequence vimeo.com/?19245885

Part2

I combined everyday soap bubbles with exotic ferrofluid liquid to create an eerie tale, using macro lenses and time lapse techniques. Black ferrofluid and dye race through bubble structures, drawn through by the invisible forces of capillary action and magnetism.

Time-lapse sequences: Nikon D90, Nikkor 60mm macro lens and custom built intervalometer.

Motion-control: Arduino driven scanner platform and mirror rigs

Score: Ableton Live

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