Kevin Geiger, Moon Hwa Seun, Theo Waddell: Interface
Artist(s):
Title:
- Interface
Exhibition:
- SIGGRAPH 1996: The Bridge
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More artworks from SIGGRAPH 1996:
Creation Year:
- 1996
Category:
Artist Statement:
InterFace is a work that seeks to examine the role of perception on three primary fronts (Art, Education, and Science) by establishing metaphorical environments or settings, each of which is representative of one of these three categories.
The Art environment consists of a large rock with a face carved into its front, which swings pendulum-like from a crude wooden structure in the middle of a dark cavern. The Education environment is comprised of a blackboard that sits next to a paddle on a shelf in a small, paneled room. On the surface of the board is a chalk drawing of a face, which mutely addresses the viewer. The Science environment is portrayed by a dated video unit with a flickering face on its screen. A spinning rotor causes the entire monitor to wobble slightly.
Each environment represents one of the three major phases in human communications: carving, writing, and electronics. The nature of the settings also provides a tongue-in-cheek commentary on the less flattering aspects of these fields: the Art environment is portrayed as primitive and isolated. The Education environment appears restrictive and ominous. And the Science environment is “buggy” and obsolete.
Each of the three settings in InterFace is accompanied by a series of images and dates that bear significance in the history of perception for that particular field. The images and textual passages are interspersed among footage of the environments to create a cyclical montage with no clear beginning or ending, only a continual evolution and retrenchment. Through the medium of computer graphics, InterFace seeks to integrate the very fields it portrays with its own combination of Art, Education, and Science.
