Janet Zweig

Abstraction Device, 2000

paper, metal, motor, pastel
dimensions variable
(preliminary study)

For several years, I have been interested in ars combinatoria. I have looked at mystical systems and procedural art throughout history that use permutation, combination, and variation. The genetic code is an amazing combinatorial that allows for infinite variations. In the past, I have made sculptures that use the computer as a combinatorial device, writing simple code to generate permutations that in turn drive the sculptures in some mechanical way. For this piece that Iíve made especially for Paradise Now, in the summer of 2000, I have worked with painter Laura Bergman. We have made Abstraction Device, a simple machine that turns the earliest representational images of animals into a coded abstraction.