Ciphers,Sounds, and General Confusion

During our crit session on Friday, Patrick asked us a few questions about our machines, and I intend to answer them. The only problem being that I have pretty much no idea how to answer the questions, because I am ridiculously confused about this whole thing.

Question the first: What does your monster/machine do?

Who the hell knows? I know that my machine spins to the sounds of a radio station that it receives, and then taps switches around its periphery. The switches, however, are where my mystery begins. What are the switches connected to? Why? These are the questions that plague my design, and these are the reasons that I feel like I’m in such a bad place right now.

I do have a few ideas, but I just don’t know how valid they are. The first idea came during our discussion about sounds and the audible qualities of our machines. If I could find some way to connect my switches to a microcontroller, which is in turn connected to my computer, I might be able to send impulses from the switches to my computer. If these impulses could be interpreted by a sound-mixing program like Fruity Loops or something like that, then I could have my machine play the sounds. It would be an interesting aural experience because of the machine’s sequential nature, and I think it could be interesting to start feeding the output of the machine to the control mechanism (radio transmitter, audio output, etc). It could be an interesting idea, but I feel like it goes too far away from my original focus on the radio.

The other idea I had is probably the most feasible of the two, but it’s rather complex. Earlier on when I was researching the radio, I did a little bit of research on cryptology. Caesar ciphers, permutations, and other encryption techniques are interesting, but I suppose my interest in it lies in the fact that my machine could be splitting up a message through the ether.

It might not make a whole lot of sense, but messages and information that are flying through the ether are always considered part of a whole. By taking one message and simultaneously splitting it over different frequencies and timings, I’m effectively breaking up the continuity of something that has had that continuity for millennia.

The way I plan on achieving my goal is by playing to my machine’s strengths. It would basically work on a Caesar cipher principle. There would be two machines; one for sending and one for receiving. The machine that is sending would be hooked up to eight radio transmitters, each transmitting on a slightly different frequency. This machine would be driven by my previous circuit, where a radio station is driving the movement between each of the eight switches. As one switch is tapped, the overall message moves to a different frequency, so if you tuned to just one station, you’d only ever get one eighth the overall message at any one time. The second machine would have eight radio receivers, each tuned to the same channels as the first machine’s transmitters. The “key” for both machines is the radio station that drives the motor. If both are moving in sync, then the entire message is transmitted to the receiver, and anyone else who’s trying to decode the message is left with only one eighth of the entire message. Will it work? Who the hell knows, but I think it’s an interesting idea.

Question the Second: What is it about?

The ether, man. Come on.

Really, I also don’t know what it’s about. The whole thing is somewhat patched together from different sources. My brain tells me that the whole thing is about the radio and telecommunication, but my previous efforts seem to have focused on sound and energy. My gut is telling me that I have strayed from my original goals, and that’s not so good.

I think the idea for the sound machine is solid, but I also think it’s a reaction to the fact that I’ve been missing my mark with this project. The cipher machine would be less of a departure, and I think it could even get me back on track a bit, so that’s the idea that I’m currently going with. Maybe it’s too complicated for the amount of time I have, or maybe it doesn’t do what I think it does, but I want to talk it over with my crit and see how it all goes.

Question the Third: What is its purpose?

Being sneaky, I suppose. Really, the idea of using my machine to be an encryption/decryption device is a way for me to bring this back to my original intent. The idea that I can split up a signal and cut the ether into chunks is an interesting possibility, since as far as I know, it hasn’t been done before. I’m more interested, however, in the idea that it can be cut up, making the ether something that can be separated. In all of my readings regarding the ether, its always said that the ether is a single entity, and one that cannot be subdivided or broken. This machine could do both, as well as being a new way to send encrypted data. The idea that the signal is split eight ways only needs to be he first layer of encryption, as you could easily send a digital signal through it, or even a number station if you wished.

Question the Fourth: What is the Site?

The site, as far as I can tell, hasn’t really started to materialize. If I go through with the cipher machine, then I think the site would end up being something hidden, or at least something very clandestine. If I’m going to be sending hidden messages over the radio, then I would imagine my site and my building might start to take on some kind of militaristic bent. Maybe it would facilitate a steampunk aesthetic. Steam has nothing to do with it, but I just love steampunk, and the utilitarian, rusted, Victorian look is something I’d love to try out on my own.

I would say that this type of machine definitely has implications on the planning of my site as well. Perhaps the plan could take on a radial formwork and then branch out into a more labyrinthine layout from the center. Then my building could respond to both the machine’s tectonics, as well as the idea of code cracking and intentional wayfinding disruptions. It would certainly be eccentric, but so far that seems par for the course.

So what have we found out?

Basically, I’m very confused, but I think I might be on to something. God, let’s hope so.