memory foam, hand-dyed silk organza, hand-dyed rayon, hand-dyed cotton, white polyester, dried lavender, dried chamomile, flaxseed, dried dirt, marble dust, Apple desktop, potted Aloe plant, onion, quartz, lapis pyramid

Interested in our increasingly close bond with our electronics, I created a sort of spa like environment in a gallery setting where the viewer receives a guided meditation by an Aloe plant with a Seri (Samantha) voice through the cultural monolith of the Mac computer. My life is such that fitting yoga and meditation into my daily schedule is sometimes easier if I do it through an online platform which I pay for monthly and can practice at my own convenience. But then as I am bowing to the Mac computer, chanting, and even saying “Namaste” I think about what a perversion this is of the eastern tradition.

2014

Love is a powerful word. It is also loaded and tied to strong emotions. Luv is a modern take on the word love. It is pronounced the same but it holds different connotations. It is used in a more casual and loose manner than the word love. A contributor to urban dictionary defines luv as “a casual way of saying you really like someone without freaking them out by saying I love you. Commonly used by people early on in relationships, where it is too soon to say I love you.”

“Love v. Luv” is a study on how different people say these words. When I record, I ask the person to think of the feeling of each word as they speak them. The frequency and volume with which different people say the words changes the peaks and valleys of the form. A pattern emerges, but every love & luv is different. This is a very rational approach to understanding an emotionally charged subject matter.

There is a lot to be observed in the ways people differentiate these words. I try not to ascribe too much meaning to the way the word has been spoken, but I do make notes and observations about the person’s form of “love” and “luv” based on my knowing them and other circumstances surrounding my relationship to them.

I am interested in the multiple transformations that take place through this process. The word goes from written form to spoken sound which is translated into a string of data that is used to create a form and then that is milled from a yoga block. The block is used in yoga to support the body in uncomfortable positions to let it relax more into a pose. Language is supported by the body, and here I have create a mutual relationship in which the body can be supported by language.

In this installation of “love vs luv” I installed the words which have been carved by a CNC router with a pile of what remains from love and luv along with an instruction for a heart exercise.

2014

In this performance, each time a new tweet with the word “painful” is received, an electronic candle automatically lights up (for 2 seconds) for that tweet. The idea that there is an undiscriminating machine praying for all pains, big or small, physical or emotional is of interest to me here. It is no more a choice on the part of the person tweeting to be prayed for as it is for the altar to be lighting offerings for those peoples’ pains.
As I meditate on the painful tweets that are coming in, I make an offering by touching my forehead (or third eye) to an i-pad, which triggers a new 3-d model of a vessel. Mateo Marquez participated by writing the code for this trigger and using a video mixer to create visual feedback. I composed the sound using recordings of my voice and cell phone tones. The volume increases with each tap of my third eye to the I-pad.

Chromacure is an ap that administers color therapy depending on the condition or ailment you select. It is based on research I did on color therapy. Each color sequence cycles through a few different colors, beginning and ending with white. While You Wait (chromacure) is an installation that resembles a doctors office waiting room. An audio instructional plays in the room on loop of how to use the ap while you “wait”. In hospitals and doctors offices, waiting times are obscene. The question of waiting for healing is of importance here, and in this situation, the viewer waits on a doctor who will never actually materialize, and receives treatment that may or may not be suitable for his or her needs.