Research: Key Term

Hand Held:

Fits in a human hand. Here is a video of my Chinese metal balls. They claim to be fine works of art in the English translation of whatever the Chinese characters on the other side say in the paper that comes with them. I use them to undo the stuck energy that builds in my hands and arms from typing, mousing, and playing musical instruments. Too utilitarian to be considered works of art in most gallerymuseum culture their makers call them works of art and that's all it takes in my book. Then there's the craft necessary to make a spherical metal ball that makes that particular noise when you spin it.

The sound massages the muscles and acupuncture points in my hands and it also has a relaxing effect through the wave patterns happening in ears and brain. These are truly hand held interactive works of art (in my view). Sure they look pretty sitting on my desk, but put into action their power takes on the dimension of sensation below the frequencies of light. The 3D design I'm most interested in is called Whole Body Power and is based on deep sensitivity, not hardness. Sensation, deep and vivid awareness of your animal body is a form of sculpture in motion. Sound makes vibrating sculptures in the air (or water) around and inside your body, the spiral cochlea in your inner ear shaping sound waves to enable the experience of human audio awareness.

The sound is integrated with my emotional state as manifested in how vivid my sensations are, how deep is my self awareness in present time. What I mean is that observing myself over many instances of spinning the balls reveals that the quality of the sound the balls make has a direct relationship to my emotional state. The same is true on an electric bass or a guitar or even a plastic MIDI keyboard, but the balls simplify the musical information to enable the cultivation of deepening sensation that in turn develops greater power to express myself fluently through an art form. On a denser level the smooth movement of the hand and arm muscles necessary to spin the balls gracefully strengthens the muscles without straining them or making them bulky.