Jean Dupuy
«Cone Pyramid»

1.
After having inserted your forefinger into a cylinder (an optoelectronic human-pulse sensor) which is mounted on the front panel of a (0.60m x 0.60m x 2.25m) box having one transparent side, you will be able to view your heart beats — once amplified — lift a latex membrane covered with a red organic pigment whose density is 1.56. This membrane is stretched over a loud speaker located at the bottom of the box. The pigmented particles, dispersed in a cloud-like formation in the box are seen in the luminous beam of a projector, whose nature is (apparently) circular at the top and square at the bottom, thus composing a sculpture of dust "conical and pyramical at the same time."CONE PYRAMID, designed in 1968 is the first of a series of objects which I created, whose very existence requires the public’s participation.

2.
Since I was interested by the creation of a work of plastic art, built of plastic material, the Celanese company gave me in 1967, 180 sheets of polyethylene (200/140/0.6cm) in a stack of approximately 3 cubic meters. The stack’s load of static electricity was such that it drew to its surface "all" the dust in my studio. The weightlessness of the dust (gray cells and random material) appeared to me as the only tangible element of matter to consider in this stack of plastic, for the development of the creation I had in mind. I therefore decided to execute a sculpture of dust.

3.
To put the dust into motion I had the idea of using an organic energy: heart beats.This is why at first the work was called "HEART BEATS DUST".

Later on, I decided to use these organic elements (heart and dust), to create a geometrical sculpture, This idea was suggested to me while watching a movie, when I saw the motion of the geometrical beams, thanks to the dust, traveling from the projecting room to the screen in the movie theatre.