25 September 2009

LVB9 - 9th >< 10th Symphony

LVB9 (inspired by Beethoven's 9th symphony, Op 125)
Mixed media on two doors and black stretched woollen textile
with internal lighting, sound-responsive LEDs, & CD-collage

See several posts below for view of entire work

This post briefly discusses CD collage arrangement




Beethoven's Ninth symphony was so influential upon many later composers that some even feared nearing their own ninth symphonies. The ninth was, after all, Beethoven's final symphony and final major work. Moreover, several other composers had also only reached nine symphonies. This led to an apprehension amongst some composers when their own symphony tally drew near to nine. Some even purposely stopped before getting there.

The concept of the (allegedly) "square number" 9 relates directly to my theory work in PON (Principles of Nature). In this painting (and in consideration of the above-mentioned fear of some composers) I had the idea of jumping the hurdle and visually showing an 'equivalence' between 9 and 10. It sounds crazy, right? Like the idea that the Earth goes around the Sun. Not everything that seems illogical (at first sight) is necessarily so. 'Counting' is not restricted to one method. I show a simple example here in this painting of two consistent ways of counting using the same symmetrical form: an equilateral triangle of side length 3x3.

The upper diagrams shows that if you count the internal self-similar spaces you get 9. The lower diagram shows that by counting the node-points you get 10. (In the painting i positioned the CDs at the node points creating a triangular grid of 10 CDs) Yet there remains the (now more covert) grid of in-between spaces (3X3 or 9 equilateral triangles). This creates a 910 resonance or a '910 equivalence principle' that i wanted to embed prominently within, and communicate via, the painting. [Why I chose CDs here is not hard to guess. But what their spectral diffraction-gratings hold sonically may be harder.. ]

[See posts below for further info and/or for full view of art.]

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