We tend to think of “synchronization” as a highly mechanical discipline, a climax of stringency and severity—a characteristic an impressive military parade might embody. Yet in the natural world, this action is an instinctive bout of coordination, designed to aggregate a large colony of animals for defense or hunting purposes, which can turn innocent species into threatening leviathans. This is exactly the idea that Joris Strijbos tried to incarnate in his latest installation Phase=Order.Based in Rotterdam, Netherlands, this Dutch artist is busy building kinetic audiovisual installations with his collective Macular, who focus on the synesthetic interactions between moving image and sound. As a former musician, Strijbos has a special interest for visual structures that can accompany live music performances. Phase=Order was born out of this research.In Strijbos' own words: "Phase=Order is a kinetic light installation in which 96 screens move, reflect, and organize to create an abstract field of shadow and light. The installation is the physical output of research into self-organizing processes in nature and programming these nature-like behaviors into artificial material. Where a lot of research in this field focuses on the rules of behavior within these systems, Phase=Order focuses on the audio-visual beauty of these phenomena and how to compose an organic choreography based on swarm behavior. Through studying the elements of light, sound and movement the work is created as a multi-sensorial experience."Watching the screens move perfectly in synch, we wonder if perhaps Phase=Order was inspired by rAndom International and Chris O’Shea’s installation Audience, which also uses a set of moving screens (in this case mirrors) to track and follow subjects that provoke its interest?Phase=Order will be exhibited in the Dutch festival STRP in Eindhoven, from November 19-27.
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