Portfolio details

My conception of the nativity scene

Inspiring principles

Variability: The nativity scene features several shepherds capable of performing movements that begin and end according to a time scale that isn't rigidly fixed but can vary by a few seconds with each activation or deactivation. The same applies to all types of sounds: the pieces played are chosen using a pseudo-random mechanism from several rather large musical ensembles.

Synchrony: All the shepherds' lights turn on and off, and all the sounds are played at fairly different times each time, but they are synchronized with the time of day and generate a pleasant level of variability. All events are synchronized to the nearest second by the computer's real-time clock.

Automatismo ciclico: The operation, despite its variability and synchronisms, is continuous and one day follows another without any human intervention.

High technology: extensive use of information technology, digital and analog electronics, sound technology, electromechanical kinematics, optical fibers, and microcontrollers.

Conclusions:Every aspect of the nativity scene is focused on the variability of the drives and their synchrony with its phases.

DESCRIPTION

At dawn, at different times each day, the blacksmith, the knife grinder, and the donkey come into work, turning the two heavy wheels of a millstone. Around ten o'clock, "as the ice melts," the stream can be heard flowing, powering a watermill until around five in the afternoon, when it "freezes" again. At noon, the blacksmith, the knife grinder, and the donkey pause for a few seconds while the kitchen oven is lit, and then they resume their work until sunset.
At various times and in various locations, diurnal birds sing during the day and nocturnal birds at night. The birds singing in the nativity scene are those present in my town in the month of December. Each song reproduced in the nativity scene was recorded in the wild by an ornithologist.

In the afternoon or at sunset, as the wind starts to blow, the relevant windmill is activated and as soon as it stops, it is deactivated.
At sunset, the pizza maker and the oven come into action, and just before dark, the streetlights and the private lights in the houses are turned on. The shepherds approach their fires, surrounded by their sheep. A dim light is always on in the hut.

From nightfall until dawn, the stars of the nativity scene shine according to the position they had in the sky of my town on September 7, 2007.
Around midnight, all the shepherds' fires, the house lights, and the street lights go out, only to be rekindled around dawn, when a new but different day begins. While all this happens, Christmas carols are played, almost casually.