Deciding which lottery numbers to play is always a difficult choice. Generally the categories of thought are two: one is trusting in coincidence (when for example people obtain numbers from dreams or the events of everyday life), the other is probability theory using mathematical systems of varying complexity. Through the work Lotto Beats, Arturas Bumsteinas proposes a new (exotic) method for playing the lottery. He noted the curious resemblance between the visual interface graphics of Lotto cards and the sequencer software for creating electronic rhythms. Starting from this point, the Lithuanian musician has composed a series of twenty simple rhythms, applying them to the numerical structure of the Swedish lottery tickets. The project was carried out during an artist residency at NEON, a space for contemporary art based in Brösarp in Sweden. Twenty of the tickets made using the beat method were then exhibited with the chance of listening to the recorded rhythms. Three of them were also lottery winners. It is clear that the combination of the two fields (the music and the lottery) was caused by a purely aesthetic visual similarity and the illusion of a possible third playing philosophy. Yet surprisingly the random winner was that total unpredictability can sometimes be harmonious.
Chiara Ciociola