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An Autonomous New Gadget Makes Light and Sound Art

Moscow-based artist ::vtol::’s latest work, ‘Red’, uses data, sound and flexible lens to make multimedia art.
Images courtesy the artist

It seems that every few months Russian artist and electronics tinkerer ::vtol:: (a.k.a., Dmitry Morozov) unleashes some newfangled gadget. While his visuals are as much an aesthetic component as audio, much of ::vtol::’s recent work has been built around sound. Late year he made Silk, a “cryptocurrency-tracking” musical instrument, and then Ra, a synthesizer that generates sound from a pyrite disc. His latest project, Red, is an algorithm-powered machine that combines optics and sound, while somewhat resembling a robotic weapon.

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To create the evolving molten visuals, ::vtol:: used a red glass crystal and flexible Fresnel lens, which the robot bends to create variations in the optics.

“The project includes many reworked electronic devices—a CD-rom, an old scanner, reused electric motors,” ::vtol:: explains. “Multiple moving elements provide wide variability for rather primitive optical elements. It is accomplished by constant change of focal length between the light source, crystal, and lens, as well as by changing the crystal's tilt angle and mechanical distortion of the lens.”

Like any true robot, ::vtol:: has programmed Red autonomously with pure data and Python scripts getting routed to Arduino and Rasberry Pi 2 circuit boards. Powered by an algorithm with a number of accidental events tied to feedback, Red is equipped with sensors that define the position of various mechanical elements relative to the range of their movement.

“The sound part has up to four voices which depend on the activity of various elements,” he explains. “The sound is also in direct interaction with actual position of those elements, and basically is voicing the process of movement, brightness of light, and intensity of the piece.” Check out Red in action below:

::vtol:: red from ::vtol:: on Vimeo.

Click here to see more of ::vtol::’s work.

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