A Radiating Body
From heartbeats to brainwaves, economic cycles to cosmic orbits, oscillations can be found everywhere. This podcast takes artists and listeners deep into the Powerhouse Collection of half a million objects to unearth stories about the vibrations, fluctuations, and movements woven through our world – and beyond it.
A Radiating Body Miyuki Jokiranta turns to the not-so-distant past, when the body still held mystery and medicine still had a touch of magic about it. This replica of a multi-wave oscillator machine, built by Angas Vivian Jones in 1970s Sydney, is at once a homemade therapeutic device, and a container for desire, faith and an irrepressible spirit of invention.
‘The first electricians were like magicians, performing feats of conductance for an audience. Lightning strikes a key on the end of a kite.’
Transcript
Neil Wilson The sort of person who'd like to take on a project like this is obviously driven. They're driven to either experiment or explore or both. They may even be driven by a health concern. It could be in a loved one, it could be their own, but they're certainly driven by something.
The home security system, The Quadra Phonic Stereo. Sydney's first kitchen lit up with fluorescent bulbs, possibly. A long list of homemade devices fill the house and homemade remedies like the green and yellow shed in the backyard. Object number 200442 1: homemade multi wave oscillator therapeutic device.
