Remember how awesome it was to hold up a magnet to an old CRT display, and then watch it degauss in a colourful, rainbow seizure? Well you probably don’t have any CRTs on hand anymore, but German artist Carsten Nicolai has an installation that makes use of those same magnetic deformations and it’s still fun to watch.
“crt mgn” is primary composed of two pendulum arms capped with magnets. Each swings over an old CRT display, morphing and tweaking the lines displayed on it to illustrate the transformative force of otherwise invisible magnetic fields. And to add just a little bit of eeriness, the magnetic fluctuations are also transformed into a modulating acoustic drone that fills the showroom.
Kind of makes you miss your old CRT, doesn’t it? Where’s a degauss button when you need one? [Laughing Squid]