Binary Poetry: LOVE (Kinetic Sculpture)
"LOVE" is a hand-cranked kinetic sculpture that spells the word 'LOVE' in binary code, as hammers rise and fall to crush candies—coded and decoded through a rhythm of analogue motion. The sculpture presents eight hammers seated on a wooden table, each controlled by a code-carved wooden cam, connected to the handle with gears and chains. As the handle rotates and the cams turn, they raise and drop the hammers in a sequence producing the binary code for each letter of the word "LOVE." A lifted hammer represents 0; a dropped hammer, 1. Likewise, an uncrushed candy represents 0, while a crushed candy represents 1. When the bell rings to signal a pause and invites the handle to stop, the crushed candies are brushed away and new ones are placed beneath the hammers. They fall in sequence, crushing the candies to render the code in tactile form.
Every element within this mechanical composition serves as an invitation rather than an explanation. The materials evoke memories, cycles, and quiet gestures that resonate beyond their immediate functions. Each movement, sound, and interaction offers space for viewers to interpret the experience in their own way. Rather than explicit symbolism, the sculpture offers subtle metaphors of patterns of interaction and connection, inviting individual interpretation. Viewers are invited to operate the sculpture during exhibitions or performances, becoming both performers and participants. As they rotate the handle, place the candies, and clean the broken pieces, they engage with a process of repetition, interaction, and material response. Through this interaction, the artwork becomes a site of projection, allowing individuals to inscribe their own memories and emotional landscapes into its repetitive, reflective process.
"LOVE" operates as a bridge between the analogue, digital, and post-digital eras. At its core, it is an analogue machine that generates a visual binary poem—encoding the word 'LOVE' through mechanical motion. This physical articulation of binary logic prompts reflection on the continuity of symbolic systems across technological paradigms. In the context of the post-digital era, where computation coexists with alternative forms of material and embodied expression, such binary encoding may one day be regarded by advanced systems—such as AI or AGI—as a foundational or even archaic form of language.
Framing the work within this broader context, its hand-driven motion and material rhythm underscore the relationship between mechanical form and symbolic expression, situating binary logic within a tactile and embodied framework. The artwork becomes not just a sculpture, but an active, living poem, continually in motion, continually rewriting 'LOVE' in its own binary rhythm.
