The Rhythm Machine is an orchestra of modulated voices, factory transformations, and animations exploring the stretch of time between the industrial and postindustrial. Using animation as a way of simulating the rhythm and tempo of the machine, the work takes on the aesthetic of early computer graphics, which is played in relationship to footage from a Victorian Ropery. Further employing the use of mechanisation within the work, modulated voices simulate the individualised rhythmical energy of each apparatus. Working with Middlesbrough-born musician Dale Frost, Wilson sampled notes of her voice, which were pitch-shifted and placed into a looping sequence. These disembodied parts become orchestral when playing simultaneously, participating at various tempos and pitches. The pulsations of movement generated by both human and automation recapitulate and evolve, acting as reverberations - conversations between the old and new, and possibility of evolution.

 

Wilson returns to notions of mechanisation, industry and manufacturing throughout her work, often initiated ideas through 2D and 3D rendering of objects or forms that make up the foundational components of equipment, machinery and apparatus that contribute to both our industrial and post-industrial landscapes. This exhibition sees the integration of development works that realise the ultimate artworks and the humanisation of the machine.