
Composition/Installation for 96 modified clocks, custom electronics and software
Coincidence Engines is a series of works conceived in homage to the Poème Symphonique for 100 Metronomes, a work by 20th-century Hungarian composer György Ligeti who used metronomes not simply to keep musical time, but as generators of sonic events.
Coincidence Engine Two uses 96 clocks of the type seen in Coincidence Engine One. Yet here the behaviour of the clocks is significantly modified. Rather than ticking once per second according to its internal quartz oscillator, each clock responds to instructions established by the artists and communicated over an elaborate electronic apparatus. The system is housed in a vertical, grid-like aluminum structure and features 96 individual channels of localized sound reinforcement. The occurence of each individual tick is further underscored by a synchronized flash of light that illuminates the clock face.