Ø 38 x 2.5 cm.
Electric cable sheathing, bamboo & acrylic on bamboo .
March 45².
project details
| For | Open Call – Anomalous Mathematical Patterns Sci-Art Contest |
| Status | Long List |
Cables are all around us. They run along the highway, under our streets, in the walls of our homes, and even extend into the device you might be reading this on. The concept couldn’t be simpler – a protective sheathing covers a metallic wire carrying an electric current. They come in different sizes and the cables at a power station are massive and get thinner as they get closer to lighting your bed side lamp. But they are also similar in a peculiar way. The axial cross-section of a high-voltage cable is similar to an electric vehicle charging cable is similar to your USB power cable is similar to ad infinitum. This work titled “The Grid” presents our electric grid as a fractal playing on the natural self-similarity that arises in the construction of cables.
This work uses left over electric cable sheathing from a previous project. I was interested in the shapes of the cavities left behind by the used electric cables. I sensed that there was a possibility to use this shape to make something. Since fractals are a part of the mathematical concepts considered within this open call I considered revisiting these sheaths. The first task was to cut the sheathing to a managable length. This was done with a pair of garden shears. Since this was best done by hand I decided to keep the cuts every so slightly random in length which creates a nice texture in the final result. After this, I spent a lot of hours arranging and rearranging the cut sheathing to get to the final result. The trick was to see a pipe in every hole. With this idea, I froze the layout and could start the final assembly. The base plate (last layer) and the cable replacements (first layer) are made of bamboo. This creates a nice contrast to the industrial sheathing. I stenciled and spray painted the base plate in the colours of the sheathing. After this the pieces of sheathing were glued to the plate to create the pattern. Next I had to cut bamboo skewers to length to fit into the inner layer of circles. These were then hand painted to the colours of the sheathing. The work was complete after assembly the bamboo cable replacements in the inner circles.
kashyap krishna 