Czech artist Jiri Kratchovil's installation, Joseph/Large Detector, was based on a mathematical formula, as most of his work references science and how it impacts art and daily life. For the installation Kratochvil constructed a special aquarium, each arm of which was a large round scientific flask. Each orb was lit by a different colour of light (red/blue/green), and all of them were interconnected so that the lone goldfish could swim between them or stay in it’s favourite colour. A bank of then state of the art computers was linked to it, and monitored the fish’s movements generating a technological soundtrack to the work.
No animals were harmed in the production or run of the work.
Jiri Kratochvil Born 1946 in Czechoslovakia; lives and works in London. Joseph, 1998 Mixed media. Installation view: the Museum of Installation, London. Photograph: James Mardsen.