The plot
“Déplacements” consists of 24 computer case fans forming a rectangle. Each fan is “pixel”, its number of revolutions and the intensity of the light of its LED varies according to the level of gray corresponding to the pixel of reference. This screen of fans is controlled by a computer simulating a cellular automata entitled “The game of life” (created by John Horton Conway in 1970). It is a mathematical model where each fans is a cell. "Displacement" is a hijack of this object, a component of the computer becoming image. It is not a question of a physical “displacement” but of a movement, a flow.
Replacements, a digital "game of life"
Replacements is a creation of the german artist def.gsus-. By a 3D rendering of the art installation « Déplacements », he again throws us into a virtual world... His computer fans have been spinning for weeks to make this animation.
def.gsus- on Replacements:
"I felt really inspired by the déplacements installation. looked to me some real geeky people had joined to make a piece of unusual art. also i liked the video sequence. noise everywhere, someone's staying in the light, the visual absence of everything but the fans. besides the idea of using just 'parts' of a computer, i was fascinated to re-create the scene using ONLY the computer, making it completely digital (well, actually--no digital fans without real fans). i used the Persistence Of Vision raytracer and nothing else. no modelling, only code, simulating ripped off computer fans, turning on and off in the process of 'life'.
the source-file can be found here:
http://70mb.30mb.de/pov/index.htm#replacements
the sound, of course, is digital too, and comes from the clavia nord modular system."
