Submerged Turntable

In this sculpture by Evan Holm, turntables with vinyl records are slightly submerged, yet they still work. I say slightly submerged because the tonearm and most of the block that decodes the needle's vibrations are above water, so it's only a few millimeters of water.

Nevertheless, as you can hear in the video below, the sound is practically perfect, something I never imagined. It's clear that the motor must be protected from water and that water must not penetrate the needle block. The first thing isn't complicated (here's a making of showing that the electrical part of the motor is external, hanging from the shaft), but the second is hard for me to imagine how it's possible. The making of doesn't reveal any special precautions to prevent water from penetrating the hole where the stylus holder comes out. Evidently, there's so little water that it doesn't reach it.

However, the motion generated in the water should interfere with the needle's adherence to the groove, causing the tonearm to levitate. The only explanation is that the tonearm is decidedly heavy, and indeed the length of the tonearm supports this hypothesis. This, however, is not a game, nor is it a study of turntable performance. Here's the author's note:

There will be a time when all tracings of human culture will dissolve back into the soil under the slow crush of the unfolding universe. The pool, black and depthless, represents loss, represents mystery and represents the collective subconscious of the human race. By placing these records underneath the dark and obscure surface of the pool, I am enacting a small moment of remorse towards this loss. In the end however this is an optimistic sculpture, for just after that moment of submergence; tone, melody and ultimately song is pulled back out of the pool, past the veil of the subconscious, out from under the crush of time, and back into a living and breathing realm. When I perform with this sculpture, I am honoring and celebrating all the musicians, all the artists that have helped to build our human culture.

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