TETRACONO, a post-industrial screensaver

[open-reading-group at o-r-g.com]

In 1965, Bruno Munari designed a small, black box -- the austere 15-cm 
steel cube housed four aluminum cones, each painted half-red and 
half-green and set to spin at four distinct speeds on an 18-minute cycle 
to produce a very slowly turning composite color moving from red to green. 
Munari called it the Tetracono and its function was to show forms in the 
process of becoming:

"The art of the past has accustomed us to seeing nature as static: a 
sunset, a face, an apple, all static. People go to nature looking for 
images such as these static things, whereas an apple is in fact a moment 
the process from apple-seed to tree, blossom, fruit."

Tetracono was created as artist multiple designed for industrial 
production and published by Danese Milano. But only 10 were ever made. (An 
additional run of 100 was produced without motors.) Few sold, and by 
commercial accounts, the product was a flop. Perhaps it was just ahead of 
its time. 50 years later, we've moved from the industrial production of 
objects to the post-industrial production of information. Tetracono was 
maybe already a post-industrial product -- manufactured in steel and 
aluminum, its purpose was to produce a constantly changing image.

>From a small black box to computer software, Tetracono is *now* available 
again.

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Tetracono
macOS Screensaver
Designed by Bruno Munari
Published by O-R-G

http://www.o-r-g.com/screensavers/tetracono

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