The Digital Infinity Machine
2020 | Installation | Atmega 328p microcontoller, Acrylic Glass, Leds , PCB, silver coated copper wire | 2500 x 310 x 250 mm
The Digital Inifinity Machine explores a peculiarity of Computation: it works best in an abstract mathematical world, where everything is nicely discrete and time is but a number represented by the letter t. In the physical world however, computing machines are suddenly confronted with the ugly fact of time being continous, and therefore need a way to translate the concept of a time step into points in actual time. This heavy lifting is done by the clock signal, providing them with a steady stream of time steps to operate on. In more dramatic terms, the clock signal forms the very basis of reality for computers. As a result, they are completely oblivious to the source of that signal the or the time that passes inbetween two of them. In most cases, this works just fine for both the computer and its user, since the time between signals in useful appliucations is really short and feels almost nonexistent.
This installation however provides a setup that is reminiscent of the Concept of the Unendlichkeitsmaschine: 15 identically programmed microcontrollers are connected through one circuit, with each controller providing the system clock for the following one at a fraction of its own speed. While the first chip operates at an appropritate 16Mhz, the last one will perfom one operation every 142 years. Given that the chip manufacturer grants them a minimum lifespan of 125 years, bets may be placed whether its first instruction to execute will still exist then or not. A shared input button and led matrices attaced to each microcontroller visualize the effects of this exponential slow down on typical computational tasks such as a binary counter. While sadly not particularly helpful with any task, this installation highlightes an often unregarded property of our binary best friends.