Flip-Flop


'Horst Rickels Horst Rickels

"Flip-Flop" is a spatial composition of light and sound. The installation alternatingly displays its three-dimensional visual and auditory aspects in a theatrical ambience.

Light – Silence
Darkness – Sound

The installation comprises at least three independent systems, each consisting of an air compressor, tubes, a flip-flop control, spotlights and pipes with vibrating tongues.

The basic system is called "circuit". It has been specifically designed for the exhibition space and stands for the stationary element of the installation. The air tubes are placed above floor-level along the walls, delineating openings, doors, windows and other special features of the room. An optimum of sound propagation is achieved by pipes set on junctions of the "circuit" system.

The other systems are installed in the space like "visitors", as opposed to the "circuit", thus representing the non-permanent element.

The systems all have separate lighting. The spotlights and compressor of each system are controlled by means of a flip-flop.

Whenever the light is on, the compressor is off, and there is silence. The moment the light is turned off, the compressor starts to work and the compressed air in the tubes causes the pipes to produce sounds.

The systems work independently and bring on regular patterns of light and silence/darkness and sound. The installation on the whole produces rhythmical patterns which are subject to shift and mutual interference, with images and sounds at times appearing separately, then again intermingling.

The automat is tuned during the performance and the time intervals between the individual systems are gradually balanced.

Translated by Elisabeth Großebner and Sonja Stippel