Harmonic Tower (2005)

Pine structure, aluminium pendulums, lead weights, pulleys, drawing table, metal arm, ladder, floor, store box, drawings

Courtesy of the artist and Victoria Miro Gallery, London.

Harmonic Tower is a massive version of a Harmonograph. This popular Victorian device created small, mathematically patterned drawings (similar to those made by a modern spirograph) by means of pendulums. 

In Conrad's version, there is an added dimension of time, as rather than remaining still, the paper - located at the top of the tower - is drawn through the machine as the pendulums swing. The large-scale drawings produced by his device offer a visual interpretation of musical harmony, using a combination of rhythms and mathematical methods in their creation.