Eirik Brandal is an artist who has been on my radar for many months now. He creates sound sculptures using DIY electronics, combining occularcentrist ideologies with sound art to make beautifully functional works. These inspire me greatly, and they also relate heavily to my essay subject which is starting to now take shape. I’m writing about the benifits of learning electronics, which could be argued to be somewhat of an obsolete medium. Digital technology is getting more powerful and readily available every year and soon there will be no audible difference between it and analogue, but yet I feel that people will still gravitate towards it. The inherent physicality that exists with analogue, coupled with the ease of constructing simple things creates a multifaceted medium for not just sound-making but also spatial composition.

Brandals work is simple and ingenious, meticulous and precise with mathematical beauty derived from its sheer functionality. The interactivity within instruments such as ‘Composition #11’ is uncomplicated but effective, it doesn’t seem contrived. ES #17 hints at communication and collaboration with machines and toys with notions of sentience. He creates endlessly exciting sculptures that seem to display a childish glee at building better and better toys. But these aren’t the dreams of an overexcitable toddler, these are nuanced works that have been weighted and balanced with deliberate thoughtfulness. He is one example of an artist who innovates through analogue means, creating devices that simply have no digital counterpart. He shows that there is indeed room to innovate, and that electronics is a still evolving field of study that has not yet been entirely mapped out.

I don’t wish to make this about analogue vs digital, but I see it as less of a competition of better or worse, and more as an indication of where my time should be spent. Incidentally, my mind is made up and not much will be able to dissuade me from my interest in circuit design rather than software development, but I see this project as a means to discuss and justify my decision.