For those of you who don’t recognize electronic components, this guide is for you ⚡️ My installation, “Circuit Garden,” is planted with oversized sculptures of common electronic parts used in nearly every circuit ever made. Hardware components are the media fundamentals of electrical engineering and electronic art — without which we would not have computers or software. They comprise the physical anatomy of machine intelligence. These are: capacitors (electrolytic and ceramic types), transistors, resistors, LEDs, wires, and ICs (integrated circuits, aka chips). Yes, there are other important types of hardware not included in Circuit Garden (or mentioned here), but I’ll sculpt those another time 😉
open studio
Circuit Garden in NYC /
“Circuit Garden” by Kelly Heaton was curated by Common Ground Arts and commissioned by Arts Brookfield for Manhattan West and Brooklyn Commons. Video courtesy of Brookfield Arts and Micah Joel Productions
Circuit Garden celebrates our electronic culture and invites us to contemplate nature – specifically human nature in symbiosis with machine intelligence. Artist Kelly Heaton presents a large-scale circuit board in the form of an artificial lawn that is “planted” with plush sculptural electronic devices. The work evokes a playful garden, or a vintage circuit board that has been enlarged to human scale. Situated in the landscape of Circuit Garden, viewers will discover smaller functional circuits that mimic animal behaviors, such as birdsong and chirping crickets. As the viewer approaches the installation to investigate further, Heaton’s analog electronic designs generate these naturalistic sounds in real time. The sonic landscape of Circuit Gardenis thus brought to life by electric vibrations of artificial origin and not recordings of real birds and crickets, as one might expect.
STATEMENT BY KELLY HEATON:
“Electronic technology is profoundly shaping our world. Many people are symbiotic with their smart phones and digital presence. Artificial intelligence is growing smarter, and our concept of “nature” is being radically transformed by engineering. Electricity is the most important invention since the discovery of fire. Yet, the art of electrical engineering is not well understood or practiced by people outside of the scientific community. I would like to invite everyone—not only engineers—into a conversation about electronic culture, nature, and the rise of machine intelligence. While most artists work with digital media, I focus my creative practice on electronic hardware because circuits are the physical body without which there would be no digital media. Like a biologist studies animals, I study circuits to understand the physiology of intelligent machines. I am inspired by Nikola Tesla’s statement, “If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.” My art explores these concepts literally in the form of circuits that vibrate in naturalistic patterns. Circuit Garden pays homage to electrical oscillation, specifically to the astable multivibrator, which is my favorite method to generate life-like waveforms.”
Printed Circuit Bird, 2021 /
Printed circuit bird, 2021. I created this work of electronic art to demonstrate the principles by which consciousness originates. The bird's circuitry is entirely analog electronic, which means that her song is not recorded but *generated* by adjustable vibrations in the circuit that forms her body. She is designed to vibrate when exposed to electricity, and we hear the resulting (audible) waveforms as a bird-like sound. Her circuit contains five analog electronic oscillators that are coupled together with a combination of resistors and capacitors. The vibrations of one oscillator affect the others, thus causing a degree of complexity and unpredictability that we wouldn't expect from such a simple circuit. It would be difficult to model this analog system because there are so many possible states, as I will attempt to explain below.
In the video, you see me adjusting variable resistors that affect the frequency, amplitude, and symmetry of the oscillations. The resulting changes in vibration are heard as tonal variation and patterns of sound, or "syntax" of the bird's song. In other words, we can hear the frequency, amplitude, and temporal structure of the waveform as it changes within the bird's circuit. Residual capacitance adds to the unpredictable nature of cause and effect. It is not only which knob I turn or how much, but *when* I make the adjustment relative to the state of the entire connected circuit. These are the continuous, interconnected, analog principles from which life-like behaviors arise. The late roboticist and neuroscientist William Grey Walter experimented with similar principles, notably demonstrated by his tortoise robots.
She is like us — we are electrical beings, too. The neural activity of a human brain is an aggregate of billions of oscillating neurons affecting each other to form thoughts and feelings. While each individual neuron is very simple, the complexity of the neural system is unfathomable. As Nikola Tesla said, "If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration." These physical laws are the basis of mind and our conscious universe.
What is an NFT? /
Initialize la valise, 2021.
(sound on) What is an NFT? I've been pondering this question for awhile and decided to make a short film about our strange moment in cultural history. Considering the conceptual nature of NFTs, I consulted the ghost of Marcel Duchamp for his perspective.
Human and machine intelligence are merging, but not without a dollop of stupidity --which may ironically be the lasting signature of humankind, assuming computers cannot fathom how we fleshers can be so delightfully ludicrous.
Exploding Capacitor /
Happy Halloween! This year, I am an exploding capacitor paying homage to rapidly expanding human potential / 2021
Human Capacitance /
Human, capacitor (2021). I am sewing a series of plush electronic components to create a sculptural circuit garden in the style of Claes Oldenburg. Electronic devices make great metaphors for the human condition. It’s everywhere in our language: you have great energy // human potential // I’m on your wavelength // we are polar opposites // resistance to change vs. capacity for change // our attraction is electric // be positive, have good vibes, etc. Humans are symbiotic with electricity! The universe is a circuit! Resonance, charge, flux, capacity, resistance, frequency, vibration, flow, magnetism, current… We are the human electric.
The Justice of Judgment /
The Justice of Judgment, 2021. Installation of wooden panel with acrylic paint (48” x 48” x2”) and mixed media sculpture (60” x 36” x 36”). Audio is an edit of Monty Python’s “Holy Grail,” 1975
Sounds of Another Time (Rising Dragon), 2021 /
I am pleased to reveal my latest commissioned piece, “Sounds of Another Time (Rising Dragon),” 2021. This sound-generating work of art fuses several themes: new and old symbols, rising and falling cultures, electronic and traditional media, and feminist electrical engineering. The piece is made with functioning and non-functioning circuit boards, celebrating the expressive potential of electronic hardware as an artistic medium, and specifically highlighting the naturalistic, decorative form that electronics can take. The circuit boards are fiberglass with etched copper, some plated in solder or gold, to which I have selectively applied various chemical patinas in the style of Louis Comfort Tiffany. Because fiberglass is translucent, I am able to backlight the central dragon and cast shadow on Venus reclining with her cherubic cohorts. The silver-colored circuits on either side of the dragon (copied from an illustrated winged griffin by Alexis Peyrotte, 18th century) are abstract electronic Foo dogs that have been overprinted with floral vines in the style of Zuber. East rises above the West. Blinking LEDs on the Foo dogs evoke fireflies and are, in fact, powered by the (hidden) analog electronics that generate this cricket soundscape. There are two knobs, one of which controls the dragon’s growling voice and a second changes the chirp rate of a single cricket (to show the dynamic nature of the analog electronics). I plan to wire one piece from this series with additional knobs that control the entire soundscape in greater detail. The art can be enjoyed with or without electricity (and has the option to turn on backlighting only, without sound).
Soon, I will post images of other available works from this series (message me with inquiries) which have subtle variance in color due to different patinas on the metal. This specific piece is destined for a private collector in Washington, DC. Thank you to Felix Etienne-Edouard Pfeifle for orchestrating this amazing commission!
”Sounds of Another Time (Rising Dragon)",” 2021. Analog electronics, printed circuit boards, and silkscreen on fabric-covered panel. Unique series of 6 mixed media electronic artworks with one AP. 23.5” x 37.5 x 2"
