Aphrogenea

Aphrogenea comes from between clouds and web.

This work was born from a thesis Fixer les nuages wich proposes
a genealogy of clouds leading to the advent of the Internet.

The sea of oil, sterile and without movement fills a space,
Impassive, an object, endlessly watched, shouldn't be there,
Static, it has all the attributes of death but everything will change,
Ordinarily its action is invisible. Here it will reveal himself.
The generative power of this relationship is certain,
Substances mingle, foam emerges.

This object is composed of a base, a glass box filled with a transparent liquid, and a computer. The liquid is a dielectric mineral oil whose main property is to be an excellent electrical insulating. The computer screen is immersed in oil. A digital bubble is displayed, she grows and reaches the side of the screen, then she turns into a real bubble going up to the oil surface. Click to enlarge schematic

Aphrogenea is 2 meters high by 50 cm wide and 30 cm deep, it doesn't sound. It needs a power supply.

The application was developpe with Processing and Arduino by Vincent Evrard. Click to download the code

When digital bubble is near the side of the screen, processing through arduino turn on the air pump, and immediately turn it off.

by Marc Wathieu

Vincent Evrard :
vincent[at]ogre.be
+32(0)495 876 315
Thank you to l'Atelier du froid to get 120 liters of oil needed, technical support, electric support, and thank you for supporting me...
Thank you to Thiry sprl who built the glass box.
Thank you to woodworker Pierre Tassoul who built a very nice base.
Thank you to Marc Wathieu to his encouragement and his very nice pictures.
Thank you to Yves Bernard to his encouragement and supports.
Thank you to Raphael Bastide.
Thank you to Stéphanie who help me to synthesize my ideas.

The work was done in the context of the Digital Media Art masterclass at ERG art school