Processing Decay

Decomposition. The process by which organic substances are broken down into simpler forms of matter. All beings have to deal with it, fight with it, until inevitably surrendering to it.

Technology relies on the stiffness of the inorganic. Digital processing consists of a sequence of logical operations inside lattices of chemically modified silicon crystal. Rarely computational and organic processes meet each other (apart from the peculiar relationship humans can build with electronic technology and gadgetry) but nonetheless they share a common characteristic: they both express themselves as phenomena over time.

This work intends to explore the possibility of an encounter between the two realms, by translating their processes into the universal language for phenomena; sound.

A CMOS logic chip network with unstable elements (oscillators) is interfaced with organic matter (here represented by lettuce, but the same could apply to any other organic material). Over the course of hours, days and weeks time spoils the texture of the leaves and degrades cells, slowly affecting the behavior of the system and its sonic output. The accuracy and precision of digital chips are forced to take into account the inevitable slow failure of inert biological matter.