The pregnant pause

 Def.: A pause that gives the impression that it will be followed by something significant.
Wiktionary, Open content dictionary

One thing that has been distinctive about this project is the ‘pregnant pause’.  I do programming and stitch out stuff, I revise and stitch again.  I attach PCBs (printed circuit boards) and press studs and at that point I put samples in the post or deliver by hand and then I wait;  I wait for feedback, I wait to find out if the samples work, I wait for success or failure.

Sometimes they work and sometimes I am asking too much of the materials or technique.  For example I’ve spent a month trying to programme the stitch to attach Brendan’s GY-85 chips.  I’ll find out some time next week if we can finally get a pair of them to show movement of the wrist.

It’s a very different way of working for me.  I am used to playing visually to develop work; to have an immediate ‘thing’ that I can reflect on.  I’m not used to having function as the driving force.  And what a cruel mistress she is.  There is no room for error or fudge when you need to make 4 different electrical connections in less than 10mm.  I have frequently had to be precise in my work; that pieces are level and square or an exact size to fit in a site specific space, but the precision in this project has huge implications to an artefact’s success.

This is not a complaint, more a statement of fact.  This has always been a developmental and experimental project.  I am so far out of my comfort zone that I cant see the shore anymore.  But that is good.  I have had to learn about basic circuitry and conductive materials and so in turn learnt a little about the potential of what these materials can do.

So there is a bigger pause going on as well.  I don’t know how much this will affect my future work.  I will have to wait and see.  I don’t know if it will be successful or not.  I don’t know if this is a new direction in my work but I am more aware of the technology that potentially would allow my work to change or interact with its environment or audience.