Bitquid data

Bitquid overview

My thanks go out to my sister Jolien Holthuis for making these photographs.

Bitquid overview

Bitquid close-up

Bitquid 1st renders

It was hard work, but finally it is there. From the 2nd of Arpil till the 13th Bitquid is exhibited at the STRP Festival in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. So far the system works really great and I already have got lots of positive feedback.

The concept:

“Jeroen Holthuis tries to explore the relationships between two parallel worlds, our digital and analogue environment. Bitquid explores the relationship between these environments by transforming bits to atoms. It is a system with parallel hoses through which, in turn, coloured and colourless fluids are pumped, in order to represend the liquid ones and zeros. The computer features software that drives specially developed hardware. Literally, rows of bits are send to the system, which are then translated into their liquid equivalents.

From bits to atoms…

The repetitive sound of the valves opening and closing, along with the continuous stream of visual information, confers the feeling of being in an analogue cyberspace. The ticking signifies the moment when a bit goes analogue. In this way the system plays around with the imaginary border at which the digital world ceases to exist and the analogue world takes over. At the end of the system, the liquid analogue data, or ‘bitquid’, is decoded and reproduced again into a new image. The effect of the analogue world on the information will be shown on the two screens. The first screen will show a digital image, the other one will display the same image on the other side, but mediated by the imprint of the analogue world.”

Results

I haven’t got to test the sensors and software for rendering the images after being transported in the fluids. At STRP this experiment is being premiered. The resulting images are really interesting. I can actually see a good resemblance with the original ones. The sensors which read the information in the hoses need to be tweeked a bit and there is some syncing to be done between both computers. I am glad that this experiment really comes together now.