In this work I use extremely high fidelity time-lapse images of a peace lily plant. In its idle state with no participation the plant seems to be experiencing a sort of “dying” labored breathing. Once the work has achieved a level of participation with a viewer, in the form of a concentrated gaze, the plant begins to come to life. As if someone gave it a drink of water when it needed it most.
SALVATION shows how no matter how high the definition and quality of the media we are consuming we still have agency over whether we choose to engage with the media or not. This takes the consumerist attention siphoning quality of Hot media and flips in on its head. I take the required participation of Cold mediums and use it as a Trojan Horse to deliver an information rich, high fidelity message. This challenges one to ponder their own relationship with the media and whether they have agency when it comes to engaging with it or not.
AVAST is deployed in the same code as SALVATION. Both works are based in an Attention Display code created in MAX MSP.
The work features an unsettled digital seascape that rages on if left to its own devices. If the work is gazed upon by a viewer, the code recognizes this gaze and reciprocates the attention of the viewer by changing its content. Once this relationship between user and artwork has been established the waves slowly begin to settle. When the waves have settled completely they dissipate and the black rectangle in the background ascends to the foreground. This makes the black glass of the screen act as a mirror and offers a moment of reflection only found at the end of the media performance.
CICADA features a wooden display box stained red. In the bottom portion of the box it displays two dead cicadas. The upper portion, is filled with cicada exuviae.
The meaning of this work is almost completely dependent on the context of other works in the collection. CICADA acts as a conceptual through line to works in the show such as R.E.D and LISTEN.
The red appearance of the box is a nod to the idea that reality can expand digitally. This concept is also explored through the sound of cicadas being tied to the microphone augmented on LISTEN.
LISTEN is a readymade Peace Lilly atop a meditation cushion. The plant has a wireless microphone which is rigged up to a speaker system hidden near the CICADA installation. The speakers play an ambient droning cicada “song” throughout the gallery. Once a certain level of volume has been reached in the gallery the cicada music begins to quiet down. If the gallery becomes silent the cicada song begins to grow in volume.
R.E.D (Reality Expands Digitally) Is an augmented reality print. The piece explores the line between digital and physical space. The physical 52.5 x 42 inch print presents a digital landscape with a red door. Once the augmented reality portion has been activated with the Artivive application a digital camera explores the space and passes through the red door. This work is semi site specific because after crossing the threshold of the door, and beyond the red portal it is a gateway to, the augmentation explores the physical space and places the point of view of the augmentation in the same place the viewer is actually standing. The work essentially completes a loop and creates a connection between digital and physical space.
MAITREYA features a meditating body sculpture made of foam, joint compound, and high gloss paint. Instead of a traditional buddha head it features a cathode TV monitor. Affixed to this television cranium is a webcam which places the external environment inside the context of the cathode TV screen. The gaze of the webcam is focused on a 3D printed Buddha head with four distinct facial expressions, centered on an ever-moving turntable. In MAITREYA I explore how technology has grown closer and more integrated in our lives. So close that we have essentially traded our heads for monitors. MAITREYA takes the gap between the observer metaphor (buddha) and technology and then combines the two into one object. This allows for contemplation of one's own relationship with technology and digitally places the Buddha's head inside the TV in perpetual change.
The installation looks to acknowledge T.V. Buddha and comment on the direction technology has taken, moving closer and more integrated to our lives and at an alarming rate. MAITREYA also touches on this inclination towards narcissism in technology. It places the keystone of identity (the head) on a pedestal, out of reach. The physical Buddha head is now at a distance and is replaced with a digital low resolution head in the cathode TV.
I chose to use this specific cathode TV for several reasons. The TV is the same object I used as a child to escape into video games and television programming. This is an ode to nostalgia but not in a pure sense of reverie. It shows how nostalgia while developed in our innocence of childhood may not be so innocent. While I love that TV and cherish many fond memories from it; it also developed a dependence and an escapist relationship with media in me. The low quality of the TV also points to an aspect of degradation. The Buddha head within the TV is of a lower quality than the object on the turntable. Yet it is the one acting as the head and seat of consciousness for the statue.
NECTAR speaks to a conceptual metaphor of technology addiction. The media displayed on screen speaks to the installation. The monitor shows two humming birds at odds with one another seemingly fighting over a humming bird feeder.
The installation of the work is a monitor spray painted a shiny plastic red color. This red monitor mimics the qualities of the humming bird feeder and acts as a metaphorical stand in for it. When observing the work the viewer can slip into the role of the humming bird and the monitor acts as a device to dispense the sweet nectar of media.
CULTIVATION is a work that works in real time in conjunction with a user's EEG data. The user puts on a Muse EEG headband and begins to concentrate. This particular code generates a particle system based off of a user's theta wave data. The particle behaves by means of expansion and concentration of particles. The more attention a user can muster, the more concentrated the particle system becomes. If they lose focus the particle system expands and seemingly dissipates. Theta waves have been shown to be indicative of meditation states and focus.
In a study of theta and alpha EEG patterns by The Norwegian University of Science and Technology they concur:
“Novel EEG findings related to acem meditation suggest that nondirective meditation techniques alter theta and alpha EEG patterns significantly more than regular relaxation, in a manner that is perhaps similar to methods based on mindfulness or concentration.”
In using this moist media and seeing a semi-tangible dataset expressed visually through particles users can feel a sensibility to these phenomena. It makes attention feel more real when we can see it represented in real time. Although moist media has a higher threshold of access than other art forms, it does provide a personal and intimate experience of attention that would otherwise be absent in a gallery setting.
R.E.D (Reality Expands Digitally) Is an augmented reality print. The piece explores the line between digital and physical space. The physical 52.5 x 42 inch print presents a digital landscape with a red door. Once the augmented reality portion has been activated with the Artivive application a digital camera explores the space and passes through the red door. This work is semi site specific because after crossing the threshold of the door, and beyond the red portal it is a gateway to, the augmentation explores the physical space and places the point of view of the augmentation in the same place the viewer is actually standing. The work essentially completes a loop and creates a connection between digital and physical space.
SYMPTOM V1 is a linguistic piece done in light reflective spray. The main idea for this piece was to rig a pulsating light, dimming and becoming brighter and extremely low speeds. Unfortunately I ran out of time for my show but the final version will definitely incorporate the fading light to offer a meditative quality to couple with the language on display.
The method of Epoché is a useful one in facilitating a fruitful mindset to observe a phenomenon like attention. The method is meant to direct someone's awareness even closer to direct experience by providing an avenue to suspend judgement. While we hold judgments in our mind we cannot at the same time hold a direct experience because it is already being flavored by our preconceived notions of said experience. In Epoché one is simply taking note of their judgements and enclosing them in metaphorical “brackets” hence the term bracketing. It is this concept of relinquishing judgement that gave way to one of the works in my final exhibition titled Epoché.
EPOCHÉ features two yellow neon brackets frame/buttress, and an 18-inch circular mirror. When a viewer steps into the reflective surface whether they know if or not they are participating in the phenomenological practice of Epoché. The piece is pointing to the setting aside of judgement about oneself in order to be more engrossed in the present experience.
LISTEN is a readymade Peace Lilly atop a meditation cushion. The plant has a wireless microphone which is rigged up to a speaker system hidden near the CICADA installation. The speakers play an ambient droning cicada “song” throughout the gallery. Once a certain level of volume has been reached in the gallery the cicada music begins to quiet down. If the gallery becomes silent the cicada song begins to grow in volume.
LISTEN is inherently tied to CICADA as the microphone fluctuates the volume on the cicada drone throughout the gallery.
