Asportatio Acroamatis

Documented on his site http://heartlessmachine.com, Christopher Locke creates fossilized versions of electronic artefacts. He says:

"Most of these examples were discovered in the United States, although the various species are represented all over the world. It is sad, but most of these units lived very short lives. Most people attribute the shortened lifespan to aggressive predators or accelerated evolution, but this is not necessarily true. It has been shown recently that the true demise of most of these specimens came from runaway consumerism and wastefulness at the high end of the food chain."

The series includes museum-ready versions of the iPod, the Ghetto Blaster, the Walkman and the 8-track tape but the following is a particular favourite.

Asportatio Acroamatis
(commonly referred to as the Cassette Tape)

This species was first seen in the mid 1960s, but is not widespread until the 1970s. Similar to Repondecium antiquipotacium, it is thought that the compact disc lead to the decline in the Asportatio acroamatis population in the late 1990s. Asportatio has often been found in close proximity to Ambulephebus sonysymphonia, suggesting a close relationship between the two species.

Asportatio acroamatis is included in the surrounding matrix (stone base). Coloration varies from a light gray to reddish to brownish to a dark gray.

Painted Records by Dwellephant

Some more painted records. These feature the excellent illustration style of Dwellephant who, by rights, should really be doing something for Cartoon Network. Favourite bit here is the third image where the hole is used as an eye.

Indigo's painted record

This item was spotted on a forum devoted to collectable vinyl. I like how the accompanying text simultaneously takes the piss out of the muso-like craving for rarities and yet it still demonstrates the emotional attachment that we can have to objects. And aesthetically? Well, if this was a proper release by Sonic Youth, Radiohead or Tortoise, people would be fighting over it. I already think it's brilliant.

"Here it is! The Devil's Most Prized Record!!! So RARE! A limited edition of ONE!!! Unplayable brown SPRAY PIANT colored vinyl with hand drawn SKULL graphics and signed by the artist himself, my son Indigo!!! This record means more to me than any other record in my collection. It has hung on my wall since my boy did this for me several years ago. He must have been about 5 or 6 or so years old or so when he did it. This one will stay with me FOREVER!!! Jealous? I know you are..."

Also not to be confused with the picture disc, I've spotted a wide range of other artists that have been using vinyl as their canvas. I'll post some of those subsequently unplayable works in due course.

Wooden "music"

Following on from the last post, I thought I'd gather together some examples of music formats or hardware replicated in other, supposedly unplayable materials. The following are all wood interpretations with the first being the cover for The Wire's Undercurrents book which was designed by Non-Format (whose record covers I previously referenced).

Images two and three document the 2008 work of artist Elisa Strinna as featured on Inti Gueurrero. In a fashion, these do actually play.

"A series of thin slices of wood are cut from different types of tree trunks, which are later sanded down to a certain thickness as to resemble LP vinyls. When played, the trunk’s rings, which mark the life cycles of the tree, are translated into sound. The abstract sound produced is an utterance of the cultural translation of nature’s History"

Image four is a heat transfer on wood that's sold via, U.S. interiors site, Bughouse and number five is the artwork for µ-Ziq's 1995 album, In Pine Effect. The final three pictures feature the various formats for Money Mark's Brand New By Tomorrow from 2007 although the wooden items themselves were created in 2003 by Todd St. John and Gary Benzel of Hunter Gatherer.