Tuning Pask’s Ear: The result of an ongoing collaboration between artist Andy Webster [Falmouth College of Arts] and scientist Jon Bird [Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics, University of Sussex]. The film depicts an attempt to tune a glass of water to a tone generated by an electrochemical system. The device emits a slowly varying pitch and the performer is seen attempting to modify the pitch of the glass by adding more or less water. The electrochemical system responds to sound by changing the pitch it emits. Therefore the performer’s attempts at tuning are futile, with any degree of harmony being short-lived.
It is inspired by ‘Pask’s Ear’, a cybernetic device constructed by Gordon Pask in the 1950’s, and a film from 1970 by John Baldessari, who irreverently tuned wine glasses to music by John Cage.
Via Richard Brown.
UPDATE:
Usman Haque has just sent in some useful links to more Pask related research. I suspect we’ll be hearing more about these experiments in the near future:
* To Evolve an Ear: epistemological implications of Gordon Pask’s electrochemical devices, by Peter Cariani
* Images from a Pask experiment conducted by Army of Clerks
