Entrop draws inspiration from the pre-film animation device called the cylindrical zoetrope: a spinning cylinder containing a sequence of images or three dimensional objects resulting in the illusion of motion. Entrop is based on a virtual three dimensional version of such a zoetrope, using digital means to go beyond the traditional physical relation of energy and movement. The work explores the tension between various forces and spatial perception in sound and moving image: energy is being fed into a system, resulting in movement and centrifugal forces. During this build up of energy and speed the system becomes unstable and new accidental possibilities of sensory perception present themselves.
My fascination with the zoetrope started after encountering one in an exhibition at the Louisiana museum in Copenhagen: a big and heavy wooden construction adorned with figurines and abstract shapes which started rotating after hitting a big red button: the cylindrical object slowly started gaining speed and after a while the strobe lights kicked in, looking for a synchronisation between the blinking of the lights and the movement of the shapes on the zoetrope. When this sync happened the illusion of a moving image was created but I was more interested in the moments before and after the perfect sync: moments of tension and chaos, on the verge of creating something new or collapsing altogether.
For Entrop I created an inverted and virtual cylindrical zoetrope, placing the viewer in the centre of the zoetrope and letting the camera spin around instead of the elements. For the power source I used a composition I had recently finished for my release on the British tape label The Tapeworm: a piece focused on chaos and the unpredictable nature of feedback loops. The sounds of this piece feed into the virtual zoetrope and work as the fuel for the engine: different frequencies of sound feed into and manipulate different elements of the visual machinery.
Length: 6'00". Released as a limited cassette, edition of 100, on The Tapeworm (TTW#111). Distributed by LIMA. Shown at Sonic Acts 2019.
