Prologue: First Contact: First Contact No. 3

First Contact presents the original artifacts from the first night of my pendulum experiments. These works were physically generated using a makeshift setup, before I had control over the system, where motion, rotation, and light all behaved unpredictably. The light source was loosely rigged and free to spin, with an improvised aperture that shifted with angle, causing variations in brightness, shape, and exposure throughout each path. These conditions introduced distortions and inconsistencies that give each piece its distinct character. Every work from that night is unique and cannot be reproduced, capturing the earliest emergence of the patterns that would come to define a multi-year series.

First Contact No. 3 reveals the effects of the light source rotating independently from its center of gravity. As the pendulum moves in a circular path, the flashlight spins along the string, introducing a second layer of motion that breaks the smooth trajectory into sharp, outward points. The result is a tension between two overlapping systems, one stable, one unstable, shaping the structure at the same time.