David Bowen uses intersections between natural and mechanical systems to create unique relationships in his sculptures and installations. Using robotics, custom software, sensors, telepresence and data, he constructs devices and contraptions for specific situations that are set in motion to interact with the physical and virtual world.

The devices he constructs often play the role of both observer and creator, offering limited and mechanical perspectives on dynamic situations and living systems. These devices and situations create a dissonance that leads to an unpredictable, changeable situation with unpredictable results. The phenomenological results are collaborations between the natural form or function, technical-artificial mechanisms and the artist.

The tele-present wind installation consists of 42 mechanical x/y tilting devices connected to thin, dried plant stems installed in an exhibition space and a dried plant stem connected to an accelerometer installed outdoors. When the wind blows, it causes the outdoor stem to sway. The accelerometer detects this movement and transmits it to the group of devices in the exhibition room. In this way, the plant stems in the esc medien kunst labor move in real time and in harmony with the movement of the wind outside.

For the version of tele-present wind in the esc medien kunst labor in Graz, the sensor is installed outside at the Visualization and Digital Imaging Lab of the University of Minnesota, USA. In this way, the individual components of the installation in Austria move in unison while mimicking the direction and intensity of the wind on the other side of the world. By monitoring and collecting real-time data from this remote location, the system provides a physical representation of dynamic and fluid environmental conditions.

To paraphrase a remark by D. Graham Burnett: We are dealing with a work of art that in a sense knows something about the world. Surveillance is implied, but the mood is contrary. What we see is indeed “visible elsewhere”. But observation and surveillance, usually presented with the intention of keeping an eye on us, are exquisitely reversed here - and replaced by a dynamic awareness of our planet and its restless, agitated kinetics.