Lo Yo Yo

(a disphonia for fishing rods and radio broadcast)

cane rods, electro-mechanics and radio recievers, 20ft long, 1988

Lo Yo Yo is about the enormous volume of electromagnetic information which invisibly permeates the space we live in. The piece randomly scans the radio broadcast bands producing a real time five channel mix.

Scanning controlled by an arbitrary, semi-rhythmic system comprising an electronic timing circuit and five heavily counterweighted cane rods, each. The rods rise and fall in simple harmonic motion until they are fully damped, when they are re-triggered.

As the rods swing they scan the broadcast band selected on each radio, beginning fast and slowing down, finally homing in on the frequency that corresponds to the rest point of the rod. At any one time some of the rods are moving fast, some slow, an one will be at rest, so some of the radios will be sampling rapidly across stations, some will be drifting, creating a constantly changing aural environment.