"Seismoscope 2: Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali", 2009
Persian (1058-1111), author of "The Incoherence of Philosophers"
16.1" x 17.7" x 6.7" / 41 x 45 x 17 cm, XY Plotter
45.2" x 16.1" x 17.7" / 115 x 41 x 45 cm podium
11" x 17" / 28 x 43 cm drawing
The series "Seismoscopes" consists of devices that detect vibration around them, from footsteps to earthquakes, and record this vibration on paper using an automated XY-plotter. As each Seismoscope registers any seismic wave it is programmed to draw an illustration of a single Skeptical philosopher, over and over again. The first Seismoscope, for example, always draws the portrait of Portuguese philosopher Francisco Sanches, author of the seminal treatise "That Nothing is Known". The actual traces of the drawing follow a random path, although staying within the portrait image that has been burned into the memory of the device, --thus, every drawing is different. The artwork is the device itself not the drawings it makes: the collector or curator may give these drawings away, they may exhibit them as a pile on the floor or hang them neatly on the walls.