SPEED OF LIGHT MACHINE V.2
The (S)peed of (L)ight (M)achine is one of the lowest resolution video screens ever made. The SLM is comprised of 400 fiber optic cables mounted to a harness fitted to the screen of a 40” high definition monitor. Each cable on the harness passively captures and transmits the light that passes in front of it on the monitor’s screen. The light travels through the cables, across the floor, and into a 10’ x 10’ portable wall. The cables emerge on the surface of the wall as individual points of light, creating an active, low-resolution bitmapped screen. Rather than bringing images to life, the SLM reduces them to a level of abstraction that only relays color and movement rather than a recognizable video image. Essentially, the SLM deconstructs a high definition image, downsampling it to approximately 28 x 25 lines of resolution, creating a crude animation that passively approximates images as they move across its 400 fiber optic lines. The SLM stands in stark contrast to the vanity-based, planned obsolescence of our race to the top, digital culture.
SPEED OF LIGHT MACHINE V.2, detail of monitor and fiber optic cables
SPEED OF LIGHT MACHINE V.2, detail of installation
Not For Navigational Use, installation in the NEPO art walk in Seattle, 2013
These 100 small steel objects were derived from the NEPO route map as seen in the following drawing. Free to the participants, they are meant to commemorate the event but can also serve as both a literal and metaphoric representation of the art walk (http://www.nepohouse.org/).
Not For Navigational Use, installation in the NEPO art walk in Seattle, 2013
Not For Navigational Use, detail of individual objects
Not For Navigational Use, route map drawing for sculpture
Code Compliant, fiber optic cable, acrylic projection screen, LCD projector, web-cam, couch, dimensions variable
Code Compliant is a recent installation in a private home in Seattle, in which I snaked 1500’ of fiber optic cable between the basement and the first floor living room couch. A hidden camera transmits a live video stream of the couch to a LCD projector in the basement. The projector streams the image onto a wiring harness that I designed to capture and transmit the projection into the fiber optic cable. The image travels back upstairs through the fiber optics, through the couch and out of the cable as a pattern of light. The pattern of light is a direct representation of the activity and movement on the couch, acted out in a digital to analog loop.
Code COmpliant, fiber optic cable, acrylic projection screen, LCD projector, web-cam, couch, dimensions variable
Code COmpliant, detail of fiber optic cable
Code COmpliant, Installation view of cable harness, projector and fiber optic cable
Code COmpliant, detail of cable harness
Patent Pending, 1500 laser cut corrugated cardboard discs, dimensions variable
Patent Pending was developed with an individual artist fellowship grant in sculpture, awarded by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. The sculpture is made from over 1500 laser cut and slotted corrugated cardboard discs of six inch, eight inch, and twelve inch diameters. It is a sculpture that is designed to be infinitely variable within set parameters. The finalized sculpture is nonobjectively constructed, resulting in a large-scale molecular form. The fastening system is engineered using a simple slip joint building technique. Because of this simple fastening system, the sculpture could be constructed in the absence of the artist, with little or no instruction.
Patent Pending’s cardboard construction is a continuation of my earlier Prototype series, which also uses CAD prototyping, manufacturing technologies, and corrugated cardboard construction. Inexpensive, temporary, recycled material defines the tenor of the artwork, which diminishes notions of material value and virtue in favor of invention, experimentation, and play.
Patent Pending, detail of installation
Patent Pending, detail of installation
Patent Pending, detail of installation
SPEED OF LIGHT MACHINE, aluminum, LEDs, fiber optic cable, microcontroller, acrylic, dimensions variable
SPEED OF LIGHT MACHINE, detail of light control unit
SPEED OF LIGHT MACHINE, acrylic shelf
SPEED OF LIGHT MACHINE, detail of lit fiber optics and acrylic shelf