juyeonk-Looking Outwards-02

Creator: Julius Popp
Title: Bit.Flow
Year of Creation: 2008
Link to the project: https://collabcubed.com/2012/01/09/julius-popp-bit-fall-bit-code-bit-flow/

Julius Popp’s Bit.Flow is an installation where a machine pumps a small amount of liquids into a 45-m long, intertwined tube with specific time intervals. At first, the manner in which these liquids are pumped seem disorderly and chaotic, but at some point, these small pumps of liquid at different parts of the tube line up in an orderly fashion to form a certain letter. The letter then quickly disintegrates back into a chaos until another letter pops up among the seemingly random movements of the liquids.

There are multiple variations to this project: it could be hung from the wall as well as laid on the floor. Different colors of the liquid and shapes of the tube could be used.

The part that intrigued me the most was how computer generated programs were used to not only to pump the liquid at a very precise time intervals that enabled the letters to pop up at a certain time and place but also to reenact the random motions that seem to be able to exist only in the non-digital realm. In general, I enjoyed the little discoveries of order among the chaotic movements of the liquids. It seemed magical that these letters were popping out of nowhere without any patterns or warnings.

My guess is that an algorithm is set up to control the time at which the machine pumps out the liquids. These time intervals probably vary from a project to project according to the shape and the length of the tube.

Along with his other well-known project, Bit.Fall, Bit.Flow is supposed to represent how quickly the things that are important to us change, and how fast the things that were important to us become meaningless. According to Popp, these works symbolize the personhood that “changes permanently” as well as the cultures that is “changing the whole time”.