Syslogd: nuisance.log Part of the series New Machines for Ineffiency 2013 Animatronic handmade copper moth, solar powered beam bot circuit This work was installed in an alleyway in Parkdale beside the Cadillac Lounge in Toronto. Parkdale is a neighbourhood that has a rich history of artists, immigrants as well as poverty. The work was part of an exhibition curated by Phil Anderson (Gallery 1313 Director) and Tara Bursey. The exhibition was titled Telling — An audio survey of Parkdale. In this work the audio was the sound of the copper moth hitting the inside of the metal box. The work is solar powered.
The mechanical copper moth flutters inside a box trapped. The audio element in this work is the mechanical sound of the fluttering inside the box. This work is an homage to the beautiful nuisance within a series of works called Sylogd. In computer technology the syslogd is a daemon process that runs in the background and logs the issues within the system. In this work a clothing moth made out of copper becomes the tiny monument to the impedance/resistance in a system. It is a bug within the system that forces us to examine how the system functions and to understand it. Clothing moths have long been considered nuisances, pests but they are part of the natural world and only in specific constructs of our society is the moth actually doing something problematic. Artists in the exhibition included: Luis Jacob, Myfanwy Ashmore, Zeesy Powers, Shannon Gerard, Paul Aloisi and Jaclyn Meloche A poem about the work: Oh Now we have synthetics We will starve your larvae Hiding out in the fixer upper
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