Infinite Spin
The Lengths Recording Studio, somewhere in Scotland
I’m not sure what to call Lomond Campbell. He would likely be identified as a “multi-disciplinary/multi-media artist” on the title card of a breakout session at a grant makers symposium. I think of him as an artist engineer.
What makes Campbell special is his creations—machines that are as beautiful and approachable as they are unusual. His machines typify an almost anti-efficiency. Though engineered with great care and thought, to use them properly is to take the long way ‘round.
Word Machine. Sampled media of human voices are triggered when sensors pass above metal pins embedded in a spinning disc.
Word Machine is a device Campbell created as part of a larger, collaborative project called MAS(S). At its core, the machine is a sampling playback device. It appears straightforward enough, a bit like a record player. Its power, however, is the way it disrupts linear, concatenated clauses into broken and degrading snippets of language grains. The artist engineer has found a way to incorporate larger themes of “migration, refugees, war and loss” through its design.
Another way Lomond Campbell rejiggers the simple into the transcendent, is through a novel take on the tradition of Musique Concrète. The Unsung Machine is a hands-on sculptural device comprised of three walnut and brass decks. By entering text into a sequence of eight rollers housed on the main deck, the user dictates the rules for audio playback. When new words or sequences of letters are introduced, new rules are established. It’s truly something to behold. The result is equally specific and clear in its articulation yet beguiling in its effect.
Most wonderful perhaps is the Harmonograph Synthesizer. A machine that transcribes the inertia of pendula into graphic—and in this case, audial—results. It’s a bit like an over-engineered, overly complicated spirograph. Watching the machine work is a joy. When it does eventually slow to a stop, I feel an uncontrollable urge to nudge the table to keep it going.
I hope you’ll explore Lomond Campbell’s website, where you will learn about his inventions, find his tour dates, listen to his music and buy some of his work. www.lomondcampbell.com
You will find videos of his machines in action HERE
His music is available on Bandcamp: lomondcampbell.bandcamp.com as well as Spotify.
He does socialising on IG here @lomond_campbell
Excerpt from “Infinite Spin” by Lomond Campbell, 2023
FILL YOUR BASKET by Hollie McNish
only so long
bones will be covered
by muscle, muscles
covered by skin . . .
only so long
limbs will be able
to dance, ears and throat
fill with song
only so long
skin will be able to feel
a hug, a kiss, a caress
till then I'll fill up
this basket of body
with as much life I can get