• Overview
  • Video
  • Installation

Conversations is a multi-format art piece (video|installation) centered on an abstraction of fiction and non-fiction. It uses stories collected from a variety of social-networking resources, including Facebook and YouTube.  It places this collection in a constantly shifting environment, obscuring both context and presence.  The goal is to provide the participant an opportunity to explore a world that is an ambiguous cacophony of truth and lies, not unlike the web from which they were cultivated.

The narratives transpiring in this simplified landscape range from the emotional to the mundane. They discuss politics, personal intimacies, relationships, and others.  The voices range from dynamic to inert, from convincing to suspicious.  

View Image Gallery
View Conversations Lite and Installations Gallery

More info about Lindsay Grace

 

The Video:

In its current iteration, Conversations is about listening to stories and the distraction of simulation.  The work is presented as Conversations Lite (small screen digital display) or Conversation-E (large projection),

Conversations Lite:
The work is contained in a looping digital frame where bits of stories float past the viewing window.  Some are fully perceptible, others require concentrated listening effort.  In this situation, do you construct a narrative from the pieces you have heard, composing a cohesive story where there may have been none? Do you question one stories relationship to the next, or understand them as individual entities? Does the visualization distract from the content you seek?

Update: 2009 - higher resolution display, increased amplification and updated content

Last shown: 2011 Games, Learning and Society, Madison, Wisconsin, USA


Previous exhibits:
  • Boston Festival of Independent Games , Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massaschusetts, USA (2013)
  • 7th Games Learning and Society Conference Art Exhibit, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin (2011)
  • 2010, IDEAS2010, Emily Carr University, Vancouver, British Columbia
  • Main Gallery - The Art Institute of Ohio-Cincinnati (2009)
  • Gallery 350 - Illinois Institute of Art, Chicago (2008)

Running time: 9 minutes

View sample video: (9 minutes, wmv)

 

Running time: 19 minutes

The Installation (c. 2008):
The conversations project was initiated as an exploration of Jean Baudrillards Simulacra.  In its first iteration, it was designed as an abstract memory station, where visitors could deposit their recorded audio among a collection of real and simulated conversations.  The design of the installation can be seen here.

In its first iteration, the piece sought to strip the illusion of character avatars, expose bare simulacra, and convey the memory of electronic devices. It is designed to be game-like, employing a joystick and cocktail styled game kiosk.  The visitor must chase stories to hear them entirely. 

Installation: 1'x2'x2' Kiosk or Desktop/Laptop

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
©2010 Lindsay Grace