In this installation we explored the disembodied nature of information and messages as they dislocate and fracture one’s sense of self while simultaneously expanding one’s sense of connection. Our sense of self is no longer created through direct experiences but instead through mediated and simulated experience. Our senses continue to extend far beyond the physical limits of our bodies; virtual spaces and ideas are brought to us not by our fingers, ears or eyes but by video cameras, satellites, and digital wires. It is difficult to know where the individual body begins and our extended senses end. While these technologies amplify and clarify our knowledge, they also diminish and shrink our sense of self. The instantaneous quality of the information places us in a perpetual present. A constant flux. It places us at the center of an unknown self which is as fleeting as these electronic pulses. What is concrete are our connections. Indeed, electronic communications may help us realize that the individual self is a knot embedded in a relational network of others.

  • Dis • M • Body 1995
  • Materials human hair, wire, lint, recycled computer paper, tape recorders, clamshell packages, pump, water, Plexiglas, video camera, audio playback circuits, washing machine drum, motorized chair, ping-pong balls, velcro, glass.
  • Exhibited Acme Gallery, San Francisco, California
  • Collaborator Ken Rinaldo