Cavitation (L. Cavus, hollow) is the phenomenon of gas or vapour filled cavities in liquids in motion in a region where the pressure of the liquid falls below its vapour pressure. Cavitation occurs in xylem of vascular plants when the tension of water within the xylem becomes so high that dissolved air within water expands to fill either the vessels or the tracheids. The blocking of a xylem vessel or tracheid by an air bubble or cavity is called as embolism (Gr. embolus, stopper), and such a vessel or tracheid is said to be embolized.
Cavitation is an ongoing piece of work, my aim here is to place the viewer deep inside the tree; to offer an experience of the mechanics of a tree both visually and aurally.
The parts of the animation were created from the series of 60 mordancage images I made previously of a tree. In creating the background image and the moving spheres I was very much considering, visual formal elements, especially notions of line, surface, texture, movement. The aim was to develop a rich visual language and in doing so offer the viewer a sense of 'other', a place of 'wonder'.
The sound is a recording of a tree in a state of cavitation. The recording has been altered and layered somewhat using reverb experiments and samples of breathing.
Cavitation is about experiencing the hidden, the unseen; matter acting on matter in deep time, affecting the whole in time.