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One of the most important features of the new electronics is that they make it possible or us no longer to concentrate expressly on the 'message' but, to put it cryptically, on the movement of the movement. The messages that are transmitted and that we receive every day in our living rooms, travel enormous distances in a short time. Networks of satellites, transponders and receivers ensure that those messages are also distributed at high speed. It seems obvious that we should wonder what we ought to do with all those messages. As light falling on a river can be a source of inspiration for painters, so can electronic signals, plucked from the ether, be considered as natural phenomena which invite you to play an abstract game of significance. You can alter those messages and manipulate them to be something other than what they want to be. Something like that happens in Jaap de Jonge's installation. Except that the viewer himself is invited to direct the signals from the ether. You can choose from a rich chaos of television broadcasters via a satellite connection. By turning the crystal ball, you change the source of information and simultaneously, the source of sound. The faster you turn, the faster the images change and the faster the sounds follow each other. The sound comes from various channels stacked by a mixer. By turning the ball, you determine the speed of succession. Visual commotion and cacophony of sound are brother and sister here. With De Jonge, the ‘homo electronicus’ is a virtuoso in spheric performance and thinking.
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Willem van Weelden
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2 satellite dishes, 1 computer, 1 video mixer, 1 monitor, 1 sensor, 1 glass ball
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