human electric

Printed Circuit Bird, 2021 /  by kelly heaton

Printed circuit bird, 2021. I created this work of electronic art to demonstrate the principles by which consciousness originates. The bird's circuitry is entirely analog electronic, which means that her song is not recorded but *generated* by adjustable vibrations in the circuit that forms her body. She is designed to vibrate when exposed to electricity, and we hear the resulting (audible) waveforms as a bird-like sound. Her circuit contains five analog electronic oscillators that are coupled together with a combination of resistors and capacitors. The vibrations of one oscillator affect the others, thus causing a degree of complexity and unpredictability that we wouldn't expect from such a simple circuit. It would be difficult to model this analog system because there are so many possible states, as I will attempt to explain below.

In the video, you see me adjusting variable resistors that affect the frequency, amplitude, and symmetry of the oscillations. The resulting changes in vibration are heard as tonal variation and patterns of sound, or "syntax" of the bird's song. In other words, we can hear the frequency, amplitude, and temporal structure of the waveform as it changes within the bird's circuit. Residual capacitance adds to the unpredictable nature of cause and effect. It is not only which knob I turn or how much, but *when* I make the adjustment relative to the state of the entire connected circuit. These are the continuous, interconnected, analog principles from which life-like behaviors arise. The late roboticist and neuroscientist William Grey Walter experimented with similar principles, notably demonstrated by his tortoise robots.
She is like us — we are electrical beings, too. The neural activity of a human brain is an aggregate of billions of oscillating neurons affecting each other to form thoughts and feelings. While each individual neuron is very simple, the complexity of the neural system is unfathomable. As Nikola Tesla said, "If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration." These physical laws are the basis of mind and our conscious universe.

Radio Receiver Mask /  by kelly heaton

Radio Receiver Mask, 2017. Wood, rope, metal wire, paint

Radio Receiver Mask, 2017. Wood, rope, metal wire, paint

Like a radio receiver, our mind picks up certain frequencies by design -- a subset of reality, based on the architecture of our senses and how we are tuned. I like to listen to a lot of different stations, especially the ones that are faint, vibrating on the edge of perception. This mask is part of my Human Electric series. It's designed after an actual circuit using a 555 timer, some simple RC circuits, a transistor, and an antenna. If you're wondering why my construction technique is primitive, there's a reason: imagine the future of our civilization if the grid were to collapse. My masks are designed to symbolize electronic identity in a post-apocalyptic world.

I'm on a chip in the clouds /  by kelly heaton

"I'm on a Chip in the Clouds," 2017. Watercolor and acrylic on joined paper. 31" x 37"

Here's the story of how this crazy painting came to be. It was a rainy day, and so I started in my studio with a self-portrait in which I appeared to be daydreaming --hence the colors and thoughts around my head. At some point, the sun came out. I prefer to paint in the beautiful landscape that surrounds my home... so I joined additional paper to my canvas and went outside. Lost in my thoughts and distracted by my computer, I wasn't really present in the landscape. So I encapsulated myself on a computer chip that is floating in the clouds. And now, after all, my artwork has become a digital image file that I upload to the cloud.