Part 2- Technologies
My installation is broken into three’s: three sections, three sculptures, and three dominant technologies; exploring the timeless question of what it means to be human? I want to know what tools are used to define us and how, with the use of technology, we can achieve a higher state of being?
I draw on inspiration from Lucas Thurston’s concept album, it details the journey of astronauts on a trip to find the meaning of their existence. The first sculpture incorporates technologies designed to recreate human to human interactions; exploring the evolution our senses in a technologically enhanced environment. Depicting the dependency we have on technology and how we use technologies to extend our current senses. It also connects the crew members(from the concept album) to the spectators in the gallery space. They will be exposed to audio logs when they place their hand on the touching sensors in the out stretched hands of the sculpture. The first sculpture will also have IR sensors in the orbital cavities constantly scanning the crowd; these sensors will trigger a visual change on the sculpture.
The second sculpture captures the moment at which the biological and the technological have created one entity. I am paralleling the moment in Lucas's Thurston's album when ship carrying the crew travel through a black hole. This act crushes them all into one atom, after they exit the black hole they are re-assembled, but how can you go back when you've been part of a larger whole. I use this moment in the installation as a representation of man-kinds change into the trans-human. The technology required here is a projector mounted within the head of one which then reflects back onto the face of the other. Mac Pepler's installation will be gathering the images of faces during the show and these face will be projected onto my sculpture. This will connect the people in the gallery space to the big picture I am exploring. I feel it will remove the space between spectator and actor because they become active participants in the installations presentation.
The final sculpture will require a similar set of technological tools, however the projection is not of the people in the gallery but that of itself. The face of the sculpture will include a camera and a mini projector creating a feedback loop. This feedback loop is a demonstration of mans eternal need to understand ones self. I feel the question of what it means to be human will forever be asked as our relationship with technology expands to an era known as the post human where technology is as biological and living as our environment.
My strengths and weaknesses will surely be tested throughout the development of this installation. I feel confident that what I have set out for this can and will be achieved. Two points of interest are the touch sensors that will relay on/off to audio logs transmitted through the mouth of the first sculpture. With help by Harout Yaacoubain I know the physical computing for this can be completed as he has practiced with these technologies. The other point of interest is the transmission of images taken by ipads from Macs installation to mine. We will be using wireless networks to connect the ipads to the projector which will have to be connected to a mac mini or similar device.
