the illusion of the digital

The rotating, phosphorescent plate is charged with a UV LED via a button. The light is then converted into sound by a photo resistor on the opposite side. Inspired by Claus Pias' "Analog, digital, and the cybernetic illusion" the object makes the illusion of the digital tangible: The light memory shows how digital information, buttons pressed or not pressed, exists in a system that is under the influence of the laws of nature, thereby e.g. blurred edges and fading of the trace of light, actually analog. Digitality is a mental model in which naturally occurring intermediate states are ignored. Everything digital actually takes place in analog, continuous systems.
Project by Julian Netzer and Piet Schmidt
Developed in the seminar MACHINIC DIFFRACTIONS: EXPERIMENTS IN ART, DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY held by Luiz Zanotello, Universität der Künste Berlin, 2018