A flat panel is a computer screen.  This one is an active matrix LCD.

It looks better than passive matrix or dual scan screens.  The pixels are sharper and brighter.

The electronics are the recycled remains of a laptop computer consisting of a screen (mentioned above), processor, memory, and a disk to store the program.  The display housing is fabricated from acrylic.  One cable extends from the piece to an  electrical outlet.

Yes. The AC adapter is 'universal'.

One easily located button.

This unit is self-contained and dedicated to showing only one piece of software.  It is already customized and ready to run.  Just turning it on launches the program.  You don't really have to work with it as a computer.

The ideas expressed through the writing of the software.

The software controls the screen, draws the composition, picks the colors, moves the colors...everything you see and all the changes. I call this piece of software 'Color Panel v1.0'.

The small 'v' stands for version.  'v1.0' means the software is the first version I have finished of this type of color study.

I am writing about certain classic Bauhaus color theory problems.  The fact that the software evolves over time allows me to see a variety of solutions - to continually explore a solution space and work with color problems involving motion and time.

Primarily the positioning of the panels to study color contrast. Both Johannes Itten and Josef Albers wrote and worked with color contrast. The issue is considering color in relation to its compliment while also accounting for how color is juxtaposed and the area it occupies.

The problem of complimentary color is different on a computer screen where the primary colors are red, green and blue as opposed to painting and printing where the primaries are red, yellow and blue.  Theories of color mixing and transparency also vary because of this difference. It means the color wheel is different and so movement around it can be surprising.

My writing considers the evolution of the colors in each section of the screen but does not script each color. It allows for the introduction of new colors from probable sets but does not specify the color exactly.  Each section is independent so the overall palette can vary quite dramatically.

The overall compositional structure remains rigid, all the changes happen inside well defined sections of the screen.

A variable beginning, no end and never repeats.  When the program is restarted, certain colors are the same but other colors are chosen differently at that time.  All colors progress from a different starting point so the sequence varies and cannot be predicted.  Because the color model is circular, it may be navigated without end.  The presence of the accumulator in the middle guarantees no repeats.

The accumulator.  I have constructed this software device to accumulate the amount of time the piece has run since publication. It looks like a set of nested rectangles.  As the marker in each inner rectangle competes a circuit, it advances the marker in the rectangle immediately outside of it.  Every level out takes an exponentially longer time to complete.  I have timed this accumulator to take about 70 years of running time to complete.

Probably not. My software systems are usually designed to outlast their hardware.

No.  The software is the artwork.  Color Panel v1.0 is considered a complete work if the software runs correctly, regardless of the make or model of the replacement hardware.  Every owner receives a Macintosh formatted disk containing the compiled code to help if (when) the hard drive fails and needs replacement.  The source code is held by the artist.

Yes.