College – interloper. https://interloper.ie Marcus Craig - Artist & Technician Fri, 10 Jul 2026 13:12:12 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://interloper.ie/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Untitled-2-150x150.webp College – interloper. https://interloper.ie 32 32 nexus/entropy https://interloper.ie/nexus-entropy/ Sun, 08 Oct 2023 19:13:22 +0000 https://www.interloper.ie/?page_id=140 nexus/entropy

Artists statement / 2016

The photographic image is suffering from an identity crisis. It has been thrust into digital uncertainty and as a result, tends towards abstraction. My work illustrates the paradigm shift surrounding contemporary image making. The analogue-to-digital transition of photography and its supposed loss of ‘presence’. By encoding images into audio and back again, I interrogate the aesthetics of sensation; something often attributed to the ritual involved in setting up and playing a vinyl record.

In the writings of British philosopher Gilbert Ryle’s, he details the perceived absurdity of dualist systems, a cognitive dissonance that mirrors the way images are made and forgotten. Ryles refers to this as ‘the ghost in the machine’. The images are my ghosts and the records are my machines.

Inspired by the Voyager satellite mission, soviet bone records and ham radio communications. This project exploits the SSTV protocol of encoding image information into an audio frequency. Effectively embedding visual information onto an audio format.

]]> Three Worlds Schema https://interloper.ie/three-worlds-schema/ Sun, 08 Oct 2023 19:10:27 +0000 https://www.interloper.ie/?page_id=138 A Kinetic Interpretation to the Mechanics of Popper’s ‘Three Worlds’.

Thesis

This work is a functioning interactive schema that demonstrates and recontextualizes philosopher Karl Popper’s theory of mind, by way of his findings on the theory of knowledge as it relates to the self. Acting as a kinetic sculpture, the work renegotiates the place of ontology and epistemology in an arts context. Informed by the intrinsic qualities of phenomenal consciousness and astronomical instrumentation of antiquity, the work represents a literal ‘model of the mind’.

Central to this discussion is how the mind and body interact. It is through this interaction that shows potential, an opportunity to chart a no man’s land that bridges the mental and physical worlds. Should a physical model of the mind exist, does it have a topology? Will the self reside in the centre? Do other people occupy embassies inside your head? There is a wealth of existing knowledge and opinion that could dictate the landscape in which this model can resemble. This particular work adapts Poppers controversial ‘three worlds’ theory as discussed in his Emory University lectures from 1969. His ‘three worlds’ are the spatial representations that demonstrate his theory that there exists three states in how one views the universe.

The stochastic revolutions of the work mimic that of a gimbal, the addition of discrete gyroscopic and velocity sensors provide some programmatic functionality. These sensors wirelessly feed into a program that calculates a one-to-one translation of movement and momentum, providing variables that will translate some relatively simple math that act as my interpretation to Poppers interactionism. This component of the piece enables what I refer to as a ‘modular auxiliary’. A steady stream of data can now be utilised in any capacity befitting the work, for this particular incarnation, the data will render visuals on a CRT monitor opposite the piece.

References
Video demonstration
]]> Split Flap Display https://interloper.ie/three-worlds-schema/split-flap-display/ Tue, 26 Jun 2018 07:41:00 +0000 https://interloper.ie/?page_id=856 Split-flap Display

During the first semester of my masters program we had to prepare and complete a significant group project. After our proposals were voiced, mine was chosen and that was the preparation and construction of a traditional split-flap display mechanism.

I was always fascinated by the mechanical displays implemented within airports and train stations back in the day. These were superseded by large LED panels that could display anything and split-flaps or segmented displays fell by the wayside. They are accompanied by a very satisfying sound as they rotated through their alpha-numeric bank of cards. These plastic cards were detailed with permanent marker and stencil kit, halved horizontally (barndoor style) and slotted into a laser cut spool/frame. Powered by Arduino SBC, a brushless stepper motor and custom built daughter-board to accept text input and refresh/display accordingly.

If I were to do this project again I would focus on the tolerances of the laser cut frame and the plastic cards, as the cards were prone to jamming. With twelve total frames constructed by end of this project, only a word or two could be displayed. Automation and API upgrades led to capability to display the time second-to-second and the bus schedule from the college campus.

]]>