Plasticity of Flame

– video installation based on cymatic principles. 

The flame of an oil burner interacts with sound waves – oscillations of the pressure of the air.  The shape of the fire copies the shape of the acoustical wave. This is how the sound might look if we could see its spreading in the air.

You could notice beats indicating summing of two frequencies which are very close to each other and amplitude modulation, when the amplitude of the carrier frequency is changing in relation with the modulation frequency.

Shooting was made with 25 frames per second and at a fast shutter speed - 1 ms with a DSLR camera and macro lens. Since each frame was exposed for a very short time – 1 ms – it was possible to capture a clear image of the oscillations.

The green color of the flame is the consequence of adding copper to the oil of the burner. In such flame oscillations are more visible.
 
Commissioned by “Earth Lab” exhibition 2016 (Ars Electronica, Polytechnic Museum, Moscow); presented at The Multimedia Art Museum Moscow online program of the biennale “Art for the future”.