2003 Rockefeller New Media Foundation Proposal

Abstract

Light Conversation, an interactive multimedia installation, dynamically transforms language into light. Individuals unfamiliar with new media installation generate narrative content for the piece through interviews with the artist and by loaning a bedside lamp to the installation. Eight table lamps form the interactive interface for the piece. In the installation, the gesture of turning on a light - a century-old technology - is loaded with emotion, narrative, and consequence. By switching one lamp off and another on, viewers navigate the domestic world of the lamp-owners. Blinking bulbs transmit stories in ASCII code as images of specific bedspreads and nightstand reading zoom in and out of view. Viewers who engage a lamp spark an interactive dialogue that must be sensed, felt, read, and observed.