Entropic Garden’ was a temporary installation, part of the Krama Festival 2022. A chaotic garden made of plant waste is assembled around the monolithic steel speakers. This contrast, between organic and metallic, enhances the shift from the topography of these phytomorphic volumes to the constant regularity of the steel rectangle speakers. In this ambiguous staging, fragments of nature appear unexpected and disturbing, disrupting the symbol of itself we have been taught to ‘create’ and appreciate as beautiful and decorative. These fragments suggest an invasive species that is wrapping around the speakers, proposing an alternative vision; an entropic garden where the constituent species will grow and propagate ungovernable and without human intervention.
The moves of the fragments are not randomly created, but they are kinetic translations of the text from chapter XVII – ‘Spring’ – of the philosopher Henry David Thoreau’s book: Walden. The text was translated into numerical values using a software algorithm and then into movement controlled via Arduino. The same chapter can be heard from the speakers among field recordings made by Chris Watson and Francisco Lopez documenting sonically nature from around the world mixed with compositions by Morton Feldman and BJ Nielsen.
Idea, Design, Construction: @un.processedrealities
Music: movement_athens Technical Assistance: @athanasioskatsougiannis Text Editing: @epb.wav Photo: @iro.karavia
