Eprom, 2008
Music boxes, electric engines, voltage transformer and cables, 260 x 500 x 25 cm
Mixing consumer electronics with DIY techniques, Alberto Tadiello (Vicenza, 1984) spreads cables, loudspeakers, music boxes and other interconnected elements along the wall, creating sculptural installations that either act autonomously or can be activated by visitors. Like an expanded drawing, some of his machines leave traces of their activity in the form of a faint line, while others do so with the sound and acoustics of the exhibition space.
A closed circuit that makes dying sounds attracts the attention of spectators. Tadiello works with the noise pollution that exists in our society and that we easily become used to, while ignoring it on the surface of our awareness.
Eprom stands for Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory, which, as Tadiello explains, is a gradual data deletion system: a closed-circuit system organised according to a diagram based on computergenerated criteria. The installed system turns on a series of small electrical appliances simultaneously, activating music boxes at different speeds. The dense, irritating sound continues unabated until the music boxes wear out or break down, straining the spectator’s patience to the limit.
Tadiello combines fascination with an interest in science, challenging the physical and sound space with the results of his work. His research is based “on the extreme physical dimension that our bodies sense, even if it is barely perceptible, intangible or inappropriate. I began to take an interest in the naked aspects of sound: whispers, noises, vibrations, all the components that make machines work and make them what they are. We do not pay attention to the mechanisms: machines are made to last, but they inevitably decay.” Even the most accurate machines gradually wear out and break down. Tadiello is interested in this dynamic, observes it with fascination, and makes use of it.
