Eric Acuña
"Static Cord and a Death of Resonance"
Materials:
Solar panel, Sound mixing deck, Laser-diode, Parabolic mirror, Audio speaker, Assorted electronic components and wiring, various cables, acoustic functions, steel metals, and resourced earth minerals
Abstract:
Static Cord , "The slow decay of resonance" refers to a phenomenon where a system, after reaching a state of resonance or a collective behavior, gradually loses that stability over time, rather than undergoing an immediate or rapid collapse
The crackle of static, the hum of wires, the imperfect translation of light into sound-- tokens that every act of transmission is contingent, vulnerable, and yet enduring.
In this tension, the work materializes the invisible through a process-- a cycle of transformation where signal is always passing through states of translation. The invisible infrastructure of a slow decay of resonance, stitched together from chance, noise, and residue.
Feedback as Machine
Machines with memory are the defining feature of our computer age. Unlike a simple machine we were used to growing up, ones that didn't monitor our behavior and reacts to a stimulus the exact same way every single time, accordingly a machine with memory alters its behavior based on its own history and internal state. It takes a pairing of inputs and outputs and carries a ripple of that experience into the next iteration, almost like a fingerprint of data. Generation after generation, cycle after cycle, the system builds an ongoing lineage—conserving a ghost of its past to shape its future.
To understand how this mechanical memory mirrors the universe itself requires a look at the fundamental laws of physics. In classical mechanics, the Principle of Least Action states that nature is inherently efficient: out of all the possible paths a system could choose to travel from an initial state to a final one, it will always choose the path that minimizes its total spent energy over time.Energy always seeks the path of least resistance.
In this body of work, I explore the idea that our universe is backed by an invisible, cosmic reservoir of information—a hidden blueprint of all space and time that acts as a grand, universal memory. We cannot see this background field directly, but its ripples continuously travel through space without needing a physical wire or network to guide them. It is only when a conscious observer steps in to perceive these ripples that they anchor themselves, instantly locking an elusive, fluid signal into a fixed moment of reality.
Our own biology might be wired to decode this hidden network, functioning like tiny, repeating time crystals that translate cosmic noise into conscious thought. This installation acts as a physical metaphor for that gradual awakening. It builds on my previous project, Emergence, where I used the fluid, transparent surface of water to capture geometric frequencies—revealing how invisible constraints can suddenly force chaos into beautiful, solid forms right before our eyes.
The universe is not made up of things, but a vibratory energy networks that emerge from something even deeper and more subtle.
-- Werne Karl Heisenberg
Figure 1: Visualizing spatial frequencies locked in space. A chaotic electromagnetic field is intercepted by a rigid mathematical matrix, capturing the exact moment an elusive cosmic signal is anchored into a fixed rendering of reality.
About the tech
A solar panel, contact mic, sound modulator, and transducer are in a circuit together, where light, vibration, and signal collapse into one another. A green laser carries sound to a solar panel, but here the panel itself becomes a resonant body, vibrating under its own translation. A contact microphone hears its ‘fractures,’ while a transducer feeds those vibrations back into the structure itself until harmony breaks itself down.
What remains is not the perfection of resonance, but its disintegration — a meditation on how systems echo, decay, and haunt themselves through feedback, expressed through a feedforward. This work materializes the invisible, asking us to listen to resonance not as timeless, but as ephemeral; a vulnerable event, caught in the same cycle of emergence and decay that we experience as now.
Analog to Digital Conversion
This project involves setting up an audio transmission system using a laser diode as the transmission medium. The system is divided into two main parts: the transmitter and the receiver.
Transmitter:
The audio signal comes from a device connected to a PJ-307 3.5mm audio jack. The audio signals from each channel are passed through resistors and then fed into trimpots (potentiometers) to adjust the signal strength.
A 2N3904 NPN transistor amplifies the audio signal. The signal from the trimpot's wiper (middle terminal) goes to the base of the transistor, which then drives a laser diode connected to a audio jack.
The varying current driven by the audio signal causes the laser diode to emit light that varies in intensity according to the audio waveform. A power supply is connected to the breadboard, providing VCC to the circuit and GND connections as required.
Receiver:
A solar panel or photodiode detects the varying light intensity from the laser diode and converts it back into an electrical signal.
An LM358 operational amplifier amplifies the received audio signal. The circuit might include additional components, such as capacitors and resistors, to filter and stabilize the signal which I tested to varying degrees of audio strength and sound configurations.
The amplified signal is sent to a speaker through a terminal block connector for easy connection. A capacitor (initially an electrolytic one, later considered to be replaced by a 22pF ceramic capacitor) is used for AC coupling to block any DC offset and only allow the audio signal through to the speaker.
Throughout the setup, a multimeter is used to check connections, ensure proper voltages, and troubleshoot any issues such as the absence of current at the collector of the transistor.
Materials:
LM358 Amplifiers, Breadboard, Assorted Resistors, Capacitors, Potentiometers, LEDs, Various Wire Connectors, Laser Diode, Solar Panel, Audio Jack, Power Supply
fig 2 & 3. Cellphone video of my early prototype and test models.The focus of these prototypes were to understand the mechanics of the analog to digital conversion, and to explore the conceptualization of its data expressions.
fig 4. snapshot of my breadboard circuits for Laser Transceiver (left) and solar-panel Receiver (right).
fig 5. First year review of my graduate thesis demonstrating the Audio-to-optical system with the introduction of the Software Defined Radio (SDR). you can see the early stages of these components coming together.
Conceptualisation and execution
Serving as the central processing engine of the sound environment, Static Cord and a Death of Resonance bridges modern electronics with ancient archeoastronomy. The design of this sculptural chassis is inspired by the petroglyphs and rock art of the Ancestral Puebloan people (c. 900–1150 CE), specifically referencing the iconic 'Sun Dagger' site at Chaco Canyon.
fig 5. A photograph I taken of ancestral markings and historical stratigraphy
on a cliff face panel along the Petroglyph Trail, Chaco Culture National Historical Park, San Juan Basin, New Mexico.
In a modern reimagining of ancient solar alignment, this module houses a precision laser component that triangulates across the gallery space to strike a distant solar panel. The panel instantly converts this physical beam of light into raw audio data, which is then fed into the optical bench's transducer to resonate the water-vapor plume. Acting as a central sound-mixing channel, the sculpture aggregates the incoming radio telemetry from the peripheral antenna fields, creating a direct technological lineage between ancestral sun-tracking markers and contemporary electromagnetic signal decoding
fig 7. Static Cord and a Death of Resonance (profile)
An Integrated Multi-Channel Sound Mixer made with raw, industrial aluminum and steel rack bundled with wild, found natural branches and tangled root elements, referencing the organic integration of Ancestral Puebloan rock sites.
fig 8. Static Cord and a Death of Resonance (detail)
An installation view of this work installed in a group exhibition at TXST Galleries, Texas State University, 2025.
fig 9. Static Cord and a Death of Resonance (laser detail)
The energy has found its path of least resistance, condensing from a hazy cloud of noise into sharp, visible paths.
fig 9. Static Cord and a Death of Resonance (detail)
An installation view of this work installed in my thesis exhibition titled, "a----------b, ad. INFITNIUM, at La Zona Central, San Antonio, TX. 2026