comfortable spaces

Posted on December 30, 2005July 9, 2014 by admin

The project was facilitated through the Boundaries in Syracuse course taught by Lori Brown & Alison Mountz. The main focus of the research was on how the university LGBT community defines comfortable space.

There were two large outcomes of this project. First there was a close examination of heteronormative spaces on campus, particularly bathrooms. A number of students are not perceived as belonging to the gender dichotomy of male and female, therefore a directory of single stall bathrooms, along with specific details about safety and the current labeling of the bathrooms was compiled. That compilation is available as a webpage off of the SU LGBT Resource Center website and as a printed brochure.The project also included installation at Company Gallery that looks at comfortable and uncomfortable space through physical space, video, audio and maps.

A set of 6 “trading cards” that point out heteronormative space and the many locations and spatial situations heterosexuals take for granted. These cards are used as a way to initiate the conversation outside of the installation, or as a continuation of the installation.

comfortable spaces Brochure [front, center, back]. — **comfortable spaces**
Brochure [front, center, back].

comfortable spaces Trading Cards. — **comfortable spaces**
Trading Cards.

borders

Posted on December 25, 2005July 25, 2014 by admin

Borders is a fabric hallway that existed for a week in the Quad of Syracuse University. The hallway brought attention to ways of seeing, ways of framing, and ways of blinding within our space. The walls blocked our normal physical perspective and viewpoints and drew attention to other ways of physically seeing the world. In five large “windows” were removable patches that provided a semiotic system provoking reflection on our understanding of borders, fields of vision, and mediation on our campus, in our lives and in our society.

borders Installation at Syracuse University. — **borders**
Installation at Syracuse University.

borders Detail of interaction with fabric wall. — **borders**
Detail of interaction with fabric wall.

Borders Detail of windows in fabric wall. — **Borders**
Detail of windows in fabric wall.

childhood truths

Posted on December 30, 2004July 25, 2014 by admin

Childhood Truths is a reactive environment that challenges adults to relocate themselves to the “baby blanket” (proportional to an adult) on the floor. The blanket consists of four baby toys that flip, open, close and move. That movement triggers a sensor in the Teleo system (microcontroller) that plays a story from my own childhood, revealing how I perceived the world was when I was a child. Each of the 1-2min stories shares a truth of my childhood. For example, the pink, hidden mirror unveils my belief, as a child, that evil-doers live within the looking glass during the dark of night.

Adults must, at the very least, sit on the blanket and move the toys for the environment to react and narrate a story. Forcing an adult into this “floor” experience on the floor brings him/her to a more open thought process. Art is no longer understood by looking at a wall, but, rather, on the floor in a play mat or story circle manner, similar to the experiences of a preschooler, but where the environment mediates the experiences of a child.

childhood truths Details of each interactive component of quilt. — **childhood truths**
Details of each interactive component of quilt.

Childhood Truths Installed in Company Gallery. — **Childhood Truths**
Installed in Company Gallery.

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feminizing technology

Posted on December 25, 2004July 9, 2014 by admin

Feminizing Technology is an exploration of the antithetical pairing of technology (labeled masculine) and domesticity (labeled feminine). Sewing, embroidery and needlework are common signifiers in feminist art, as well as signifiers of my own matrilineage. My grandmother sews, knits, embroiders, etc. and has complimented her traditional skills with a digitalized sewing machine that can be programmed and used with a computer. Seeing her interest and dependence on technology and the juxtaposition of old and new has provoked me to discover many similarities quilted and stitched work have with digital, pixel based work. Each step of the way I discover how the traditions of the past continue to influence and interact with the formation of traditions of the present. Immersing myself in both the quilting and programming experiences, I hope to reveal an equilibrium of a “genderless” activity.

Feminizing Technology Installed for "Rude and Bold Women" — **Feminizing Technology**
Installed for “Rude and Bold Women”

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