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Juan Jose Maria

Social Substrates (Systemic-Mechanistic): Bifurcations

2013
Digital Art * Electronic Art * Sculpture * Installation * Videomapping * Data Visualization

Mechatronic sculpture of a white acrylic concrete mixer on a platform containing earth, sand and lime.
Acrylic container frame.

Software: Processing y Arduino.
Hardware: PC, Arduino, sensors, projedtor.

Description

The installation follows the conceptual line of the Social Substrates series, which is based on the visualization of the population analysis of immigrants and native peoples from 10 censuses in Argentina. This project is made up of a wooden pedestal 1.50m wide by 0.80m deep and 1m high, on it there is a transparent acrylic frame that contains a mixture of earth, sand and lime. On top of the mixture rests a white acrylic concrete mixer made to scale that also contains earth, sand and lime. The concrete mixer has a motor whose speed is controlled by an H-bridge L298 connected to an Arduino board. The mixture of the substrates used has the peculiarity of creating earthen structures covered by sand and lime, generating white-appearing stones, but inside it preserves the nature of the earth.

On the other hand, a generative system that simulates the growth of vines is projected on the structure. There are three different species of vines, which differ in the textures of their branches, which are precisely the textures of earth, sand and lime. The rotation speed of the concrete mixer is related to the number of inhabitants of Villa 31 of each historical period. The concrete mixer has a limit switch sensor connected to an Arduino. Each time it is activated when turning, the system gives a signal to the software made in Processing to generate growth, that is, each turn of the concrete mixer generates the growth of the vine over time.

In each historical period, from the 19th to the 21st century, the vines will grow proportionally to the population data described, being more or less dense according to the number of Latin American immigrants and native peoples of each period.