The tuning fork, designed for minimal overtones and a closeness to ‘pure pitch,’ is normally an absolute reference point against which all tones can be tested. As such, it may represent any universal standard or ideal against which we measure. The standardized software converts this ordinarily static note into a dynamically altering pitch, questioning absolutism, and creating a relational standard that moves with and against its viewers.

The sculpture uses a video camera to read everything that is present or moving in its environment. Computer software exponentially multiplies this detected motion, and, in real time, shifts the fork’s pitch accordingly.

The ironic swings of standardized thus depend upon the viewer’s action. After striking the fork and letting its resonant sounds spread across the space, a steady reference point can only be reached if he or she is completely still, but even then, the pitch is ‘wrong.’ To get a perfect, pure note, there would have to be a complete absence of movement, a lack of any human interaction whatsoever. The ‘real’ reference point can therefore never be heard by human ears – it is a fantasy, an unreachable object of desire. standardized suggests that the complex overtones of relationality are indomitable, and that even in the midst of seeming absolutism, we are responsible for creating our own relationship with the world.