Pin Cushion, 2000
In Pin Cushion, a female character is projected onto a latex cushion. Large acupuncture needles are embedded into the character’s face. When the viewer touches the needles, the projected woman responds and devolves.
The rate at which the image changes, and the instantaneous morphology that the degrading image assumes, depend on physiological properties of the viewer: surface electrical conductivity, resistance to electrical currents, and the latent charge of the viewer’s own body.
The digital character’s lifespan and well-being are dictated by the collective intentions of the viewers/participants over the exhibition period. Pin Cushion was the first artwork to provide an individualised interface measuring each participant’s unique electrostatic charge.
Credits
Mari Velonaki: original concept, interface & interaction design
Exhibited at
Transformers, Artspace Visual Arts Centre, Sydney, Australia.
Jaqueline Phillips (curator), August 2000.
Future Screen 00, Artificial Life: HARD/SOFT/WET, the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia.
Leah Grycewicz & Panos Couros (curators), October 2000.
European Media Arts Festival, Osnabrück, Germany.
Herrman Noering, Andrea Gehling et al. (curators), April - May 2001.
Heterosis, ARCO 2002, Conde Duque Museum, Madrid, Spain.
Paul Greenaway (curator), February - April 2002.
Converge: Where Art and Science Meet, the 2002 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Contemporary Art, Adelaide Festival of the Arts, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia.
Victoria Lynn, Linda Cooper, et al. (curators), March - April 2002.
St@rt Up, Te Papa Tongarewa National Museum of New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand.
Kathy Cleland (curator), October 2002.
International Digital Art Awards 05, Victoria College of the Arts Gallery, Melbourne, Australia.
Steve Danzig (curator), April - May 2005.
Beijing New Media Arts Biennial, China Millennium Art Museum, Beijing, China.
Alex Adriaansens, Sara Diamond, Yukiko Shikata, Peter Weibel, Antoanetta Ivanova & Zhang Ga (curators), June - July 2005.
International Digital Art Awards 05, Queensland University of Technology Gallery, Brisbane, Australia.
Steve Danzig (curator), August - September 2005.