Repeater is a custom software that creates a feedback loop between a pen plotter and a pen digitizer. The process starts with the pen plotter tracing the description text. At the same time the software records and draws the text on the screen as captured by the pen digitizer. At the end of each iteration the recorded motion is fed back to the pen plotter and this two part process repeats over and over again. Due to loss of information between the two devices, the drawn text is distorted and simplified at every loop, until it becomes illegible and completely loses its meaning.
Repeater looks at automation and draws attention to the limits of the given devices. The degradation of the text is a result of the information repeatedly moving between the digital and the physical domain. The resolution of the pen digitizer, the mechanical limitations of the pen plotter, and its operating settings all contribute to the mutation of the drawn text.
The installation is inspired by the artwork “I am sitting in a room” by Alvin Lucier, the American experimental music composer. Lucier recorded his voice, played it back, and re-recorded it repeatedly until the audio became indistinguishable.
This iteration of the installation uses an A3 AxiDraw pen plotter, a Wacom Intuos Pro pen digitizer and a portable screen, all controlled by a Raspberry Pi 4 for a smaller form factor. The main software is implemented in Openframeworks, which calls an additional Python script that communicates with the plotter’s API to perform the initial calibration and draw each iteration. The application listens to OSC messages, allowing for remote system control since the cursor is actively manipulated by the digitizer and the pen plotter. Additionally, the software captures each iteration as both a bitmap and a vector file, providing the option to generate a time-lapse animation illustrating the text degrading over time.
Georgios Cherouvim | Instagram | Vimeo | Twitter | GitHub
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