In the 1790s Ernst Chladni used metal plates and fine powder to demonstrate that all matter vibrates. Chladni mounted a metal plate horizontally and dusted it with a fine powder, and then drew a violin bow across the edge of the plate. The sound frequencies produced in this manner by the human hand cause shifting visual images which evoke a hidden communication with the structures of nature. The process itself is reminiscent of dreams and the images evoke memories. In her book Overlay (1983), Lucy Lippard confirms: ‘Art itself may be partially defined as an expression of that moment of tension when human intervention in, or collaboration with, nature is recognized’.
