Wunderkammer :: Topologies

I often drop into topologies.com.au – hoping hoping hoping that more pictures, or perhaps an interactive segment or two from Donna Kendrigan’s interactive Wunderkammer ‘Transplants’ >> might have been added. Although I continue to be disappointed on this score, I have spent many happy hours exploring the rest of the site, which Donna shares with fellow artist Chris Henske. Both have a restrained and elegant aesthetic, and a poetically Steampunk vision of the future. I have followed Henske’s work since his early ‘Orchestra of Rust’ interactive. Rust being a metallic form of dust makes it a fascinating subject for any MoD habitué, and Henske’s take on it is both aural as well as visual; a grinding graunching symphony of corrosion.



His latest completed work, ‘Hypercollider,’ takes this even further – delving into the dust of dust.... It

“explores the extremes of relativity and Einstein's unwillingness to accept these implications of his own theories. Dubbed the 'Three Gates of Time', these extremes include Black Holes, the Big Bang and the Big Crunch. 'HyperCollider' also plays with the absurdities that occur when relativity collides with quantum physics, and illuminating some of the strange theoretical worlds that exist on paper. Collaged from 1920s relativity textbooks and Einstein's handwritten notes, 'HyperCollider' is housed within a 1920’s German style pinball machine cabinet, this device is a hybrid of a pinball game, gramophone player and particle accelerator.”

Users/players attempt to bounce subatomic particles off one another and into a black hole – with the obvious spatial and temporal dilation consequences. Henske has constructed the aural environment from fragments of 20thC pop.

Best of all – you can play it online from here >>



There are many other playable works as well as a gallery of Henske’s 2D and sound works, and a sneak preview of current and future projects (including the stereographic collage at the top of the page). The only thing that the site is light on is explanations… and Kendrigan’s works.

Topologies >>

However you can catch a taste of Kendrigan’s talents at the SBS World Tales site. Click on Asia-Pacific and select Urashima Taro from the menu. >>