This is the third time that Japanese musician and artist Ei Wada is exhibiting one of his fascinating mobile installations at Ars Electronica. Once again, it’s a work at the interface of music and the visual arts and, once again, Ei Wada has recourse to the technology that is his passion: the classical recording & playback device of the analog era. “Flying Records” is yet another homage to the tape recorder, a once-mass-produced appliance that has since been junked by the millions.

Up and Down

The work is an ensemble of six analog recorders with reel-to-reel magnetic tapes. A helium balloon is attached at the beginning or end of the tape—depending on the direction of play. Once the tape is finished playing, the balloon rises on its own; rewinding the tape hauls the balloon back down, and the minimalist ascent-descent game can start again. The simultaneous action of the six tape recorders thus gives rise to meditative-hypnotic interplay of sounds and visual elements.