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Electronic prosthesis
2000
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  • Ripple Counter MKI

  • Ripple counter MKII

  • Weight Accumulating Chair

  • Close-up of display

  • Electronic Leaf

  • SMS news message informing of fall of leaf

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A series of electronic interventions exploring how simple experiences may be altered through the addition of an electronic layer.

•Ripple Counter
As an electronic mediator between nature and the environmentally detached, the device attempts to quantify nature by counting ripples. In doing this it gives each ripple a numeric title and a nominal identity, thus making it more tangible to lovers of hard data who have become detached from the natural environment. In its ambitious and pedantic quest to count the un-countable the ripple counter is a tragic device that is ultimately destined to fail.

•Weight Accumulating Chair
Through the application of a parasitical weighing device the chair is able to communicate its history in kilograms. Not concerned with the weight of individual sitters it is pre-occupied with celebrating its own function by amassing kilos for its own glorification. The chair carries out this function passively but even with the introduction of a simple weighing mechanism, new user behaviours and questions may begin to emerge giving rise to numerically altered interactions and neurosis. Would we proudly show the weight on our chairs proving dedication in the workplace?
Would we be intrigued to know the weight of an adventurous, romantic encounter? Or would we simply try to weigh ourselves. The chair offers the user the possibility to be weighed at the dining table once again providing a space for food and weight based curiosity or anxiety.
Nb: During a two-week period the chair accumulated 50,792 kg, which is the equivalent of eighty-one Austin minis and two men of average weight.

•Electronic Leaf
A wireless communications device is attached to a branch of a tree whilst in leaf, a magnet an led and a battery are connected to the leaf. When the leaf falls the magnetic switch is triggered and the user is informed by a mobile telephone message that the leaf has fallen. The led is activated so that the user may distinguish the leaf should it lands in a pile or blow away.
This technological intervention between user and the leaf provides a space where the user through contemplating on the demise of the leaf might find pleasure in celebrating other ‘banalities’.