HOW ARE YOU IDENTIFIED?

This project is made up of three, text-based, interactive parts, based on personal identity. The first part provides a basis for defining a stereotype. The screen displays a series of images and stereotypes. The user can move the text around and when a stereotype correctly matches an image, both will turn into a definition for the word stereotype. After all of the definitions are on the screen, the user will be able to click on certain words that are interchangeable in every definition. The second screen is based on how the user is percieved by others. The percieved identity is determined by a series of questions. Based on the answers to the questions, an image of a body is formulated with certain words filling in the body. The words are extreme characteristics that a person might assume based on the answers to the few questions. The third screen displays several words. Each word can be moved in a particular direction as the user moves the mouse over the word. As certain words touch eachother, a line from an 18-line poem about identity will appear on the screen. When all of the correct matches have been made, the entire poem appears on the screen. The progression of the three parts of this piece take the user through three different forms of identity: assumptions, percieved identity, and stereotypes.

DATA MAPPING AND VISUALIZATION (Guitar Tabs)

I created an application using Java3D programming that parses guitar tab information from any song and creates a 3D visualization of the various notes and chords of that song. The amount of spheres in the image represent repetition in a song. The more spheres, the more variation. A song with mostly the same chords and notes will have fewer spheres and less drastic colors. The idea is to visually map one type of representation into another in order for a different analysis of the data.

ONLY IN YOUR DREAMS

There are many different ways of defining "stream of consciousness." For purposes of this project, I will broadly define this phrase to mean a set of constantly changing thoughts, feelings, data, images, etc., without regard to logical argument or narrative sequence. The data used for "Only In Your Dreams" consists of dreams collected over a period of two weeks from approximately twenty people (both male and female, of varying ages). In an attempt to show direct correlations and relationships between different peoples dreams, I created a stream of consciousness, in which key aspects of one dream are linked to another dream. There is no straight, clear path that links each dream to one another. Instead, each key aspect (word/phrase) of a dream is placed into several categories related to that word or phrase. The computer then randomly picks one of those related categories and randomly finds another dream to link to within that category. Thus, there is a reason for each link, however the same exact path will never come up twice (depending on how long you play with the program). For this reason, "Only In Your Dreams" is a stream of consciousness with constantly changing dreams without regard to a straight narrative sequence.

JOYMOUSE

The JoyMouse project that I have created is a time and process-based media art project that uses external devices (game controller and joystick) and my own personal desktop interface. The concept behind the project originated when I realized how often I have difficulty finding things on my computer. Some people might say that the cause of this is un-organization. However, I don't find this to be the case. Instead, I find that because so many items and icons can be stored in a computer and because it's so easy to create new folders and subfolders, I've started to get lost in a web of my own creation. When I sit down to find a file I saved last week or even last month, I feel like I'm playing a game with myself to try and find the "lost" file. Thus, I've created JoyMouse, an interactive media software game in which the mouse is controlled by a game controller and the object of the levels in the game is to search for and find files hidden within the computer. It's often assumed that the easy-to-use Windows (and even Mac) interface provides for a more organized computer then the command line interface. My objective in this project is to question this assumption, and use the computer and game controller in a non-conventional way to get the point across. By using the game controller, the user expects to enter into an exciting world of shooting and jumping over tall buildings, when, in fact, the user is unexpectedly surprised that the task is quite the opposite.

S(TEREOTYPE)F(EAR)H(ATE)

"S(tereotype)F(ear)H(ate)" is an apparatus that requires a great deal of user interaction. Often times people make assumptions about eachother based on appearence, religion, ethnicity, and other characteristics and lifestyles. My artwork is an attempt to identify these common stereotypes and break them down, while educating people on different lifestyles. In this project, when the user properly matches up the pairs of stereotypes, the word "HATE" will be fully lit up with red bulbs. It is important for people to realize how easily they can identify a stereotype and what the outcome of those assumptions is.

YOURSPACE OR MYPOD?

YourSpace or MyPod, (yôr-spas ôr mi-pod) n. 1. a performance-based installation dealing with several concepts, including technology vs. painting, computers/technology/pop culture, self identity, and audience influence on the artist. All of these concepts contribute to three main themes in the piece; identity, consumption, and processes of creating art. 2. a project that addresses assumptions about mass media and consumer society through the choice of images and the way in which the computer is utilized to create a painting. In this piece, a large-scale painting is developed by multiple users interacting with computer painting software which in turn affects how the artist interacts with the canvas. The way that technology and paint mediums are used to create this project emphasize the significance of the ways in which technology have transformed the art world. 3. a final painting reflecting the relationship between personal identity and technology. The installation includes one computer, two monitors, one projector, one large canvas and a set of seven paints. The monitors are connected to one another and the computer is hooked up to the projector which is aimed at the canvas hanging on a wall. A user comes in and creates an image on the computer composed of various icons, symbols and text using computer paint software created by the artist. The user has 5 minutes before the image is freeze-framed. As the image is projected onto the canvas, parts of the creation are painted onto the canvas by the artist. As soon as another user approaches the computer and clears the screen, the artist stops painting and wait until the new user creates a collage of images on the screen that is then projected onto the same canvas. The process continues until the canvas is completely painted.