Blank_Cursor
Year
Context
Blank is an experimental sculptural ensemble made up of five exhibits exploring different meanings of emptiness. Developed with Felix Weinold for Neue Galerie im Höhmannhaus in Augsburg.
Approach
Forty fluorescent tubes flicker asynchronously, creating a varying rhythm enhanced by the mechanical clicking of relays, turning technical imperfection into a spatial experience.
Consisting of five exhibits, »blank« is an experimental sculptural ensemble. The elements occupy the room according different interpretations of the theme:
Blank: shining – bright – purged – clean – empty space. These and other facets pose the impulse and framework of the project that is finally filled by the audience.
»blank« plays on the audience’s associative readiness and openness to concentrate on the barely perceptible, and to come away with their own sensory understanding. »blank« takes time, concentration and attention, yet it rewards one with ciphers, humor and pure eye candy. »blank« consists of a series of single modules that were created over a year for this project.
When switched on, »Cursor«’s 40 fluorescent tubes flicker asynchronously, due to technical factors. The constantly varying rhythm is enhanced by the clicking of relays driving the piece.
In word processing, a blinking cursor has served for generations of computers as a placeholder for (as yet) nothing. The formal shape, as well as the behavior of the fluorescent tube when switched on, is strongly reminiscent of this placeholder.
In our work, a sensor behind each tube detects when it lights up continuously, immediately switches it off, and restarts it. Over time, despite starting simultaneously at the beginning of the exhibition, a highly complex animation emerges virtually out of nothing—driven by technical randomness.