Windings

During my work as an art education officer at the Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney, I had a particularly memorable conversation with a Sydney based contemporary Aboriginal artist. As she was a master weaver within Indigenous Australia textile traditions, we talked about the practice of textile-making, textile-making circles, and the a tradition women coming together to collectively work on textiles in numerous cultures throughout history. She told me stories of her own upbringing in which her community was forced to keep their traditional textile-making circles secret, as it had been banned by the authorities at the time. She distinctly remembered the fixating and trance-like energy present in the group as they worked. Having also experienced the dreamlike state induced by working on textiles for long durations, I'd often reasoned that is was due to the repetitious nature of the work and the intense focus and endurance it requires. The lady told me that in her circle this collective energy is openly acknowledged and considered a sacred space - a "weaving of another reality".

In electronics, a transformer uses electromagnetic induction to transfer energy between two or more points. They are constructed by the careful and exact coiling of copper wire over a magnetic core. This work is often done by machine, although sometimes laboriously wound by humans assisted by a sewing-machine like winder, and occasionally - for specialist purposes - they are wound by hand. I'm told, anecdotally, that 'traditionally' transformer winding was considered 'womens-work' due to the precision, focus, and intense labour it required. Presently, there appears to be a subculture of electrical tinkerers who are breaking free from the standard forms of transformer coiling and experimenting with unique patterns and layering with the intention of altering the transformers electrical output. Some of the more out-there theories claim that there is a sort of reality-shifting power available in the sacred geometry of coils. Indeed, if nothing else there is palpable energy called forth by the process of making, the unique properties of copper and iron, and the latent powers of electromagnetic geometry – all combined into an object that is at the heart of human electricity generation, distribution, and voltage manipulation.

One may think of transformers as a woven object, an object that is the culmination of both energetic potential and meticulous crafting. There is evidence in this in the history of electronics:

From mid to late 1800s, innovations in electrical experimentation from the likes of Lord Kelvin, Becquerel, Faraday, and Ohm lead to novel understanding of current, impedance, induction, and electromagnetism. Silk covered copper wire is first mentioned in Joseph Henry 1830s experiments on bell-wire electromagnet winding.[i] In taking advantage of thinner silk and cotton coated wire from the milliners, these natural philosophers were able to develop their electrical experiments to incorporate more intricate investigations of coils, inductors, transformers, and electromagnets.[ii] Surviving remnants of fabric-coated wire samples are still on display at the Faraday Museum at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, including his well known, painstakingly crafted inductor ring.[iii]

[i] B. C. Blake-Coleman, Copper Wire and Electrical Conductors: The Shaping of a Technology (Philadelphia: Harwood Academic, 1992), 141.

[ii] Ibid, 14.

[iii] “A History of the World” BBC Website. Retrieved May 10 2013.

Process

Some inspiring examples of experimental transformer winding:

Below are some experiments. The copper wire coil is transformed into a wire speaker with the help of a neodymium magnet.

Artwork idea

Several experimental handmade transformers to be exhibited - some displaying particular techniques of traditional lace-making or weaving. Transformers may be made from copper, silk, cotton, or combinations of these materials. Some may function in circuits, some may not.