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Inspiring was a haiku by the Japanese poet Buson of plum blossoms returning on a leafless tree in a moonlit night.
ume comprises self-contained revolving images of plum blossoms in the form of thaumatropes* powered by solar cells. One side of the disk depicts leafless shoots stemming from the branches of a plum tree. On the reverse are bright red blossoms in several stages of development. Only with the rays of the sun will the blossoms be seen in their entirety, as the sunlight provides the essential energy for the work to come to life.
ume is the first outcome of the aim to integrate alternative energy ~ in the fields. The sun should not be seen as merely an energy source – it is an integral part of the concept and forms the work itself.
Each of the 50 components reacts autonomously to the light stimulus provided by 50 solar cells. Even the smallest changes in the sky like moving clouds are mirrored. In binary terms, there is spring or there is not.
The movement of air created by the thaumatropes evokes the sensation of a breeze wafting through the branches of a tree.
Only the scent of the blossom is absent.
* A thaumatrope is a toy that was popular in Victorian times. A disk or card with a picture on each side is attached to two pieces of string. When the strings are twirled quickly between the fingers the two pictures appear to combine into a single image due to persistence of vision – the perceptual processes of the brain or the retina where the human eye retains an image for a brief moment.
Thaumatropes are recognised as important antecedents of cinematography and in particular of animation.
ume1.mov 276kb
ume2.mov 256kb
ume3.mov 1.9mb
ume.pdf
