Three Ring Circuit

© 1986 Vibeke Sorensen
Produced at the Caltech CSGG

I took a course at Caltech called "The Potentials and Limitations of Computing Machines" taught by Richard Feynmann and Sandy Frey. While most students in the class were designing and building Greastest Common Denominator calculators, I made the Three Ring Circuit, instead. This circuit is obviously related to my other so-called "pun" pieces, in that it was inspired by the language of technology, and meant to intervene between large scale human gesture and the microscopic world of computer circuitry. I designed and built a simple interactive sculpture which uses LED's or Light Emitting Devices, in a plexiglas box. You select a pattern for the first ring by pushing buttons, the second ring displays the inverted pattern, and the 3rd is the XOR of side by side lights. The parts are laid out to be seen, more like a painting which one can alter by hand, than an engineering design to be encased in a small, metal box. It was shown at the Siggraph '87 Art Show as the only interactive painting in the show.

Working with these "rings" led me to NLoops.

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