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Section B
part 1-B

The Divine Algorithm, Part 1

SECTION A: What The Public Saw



Contents of this Document:


  
  
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Section B
part 1-B

Final Floor Plan ........

My Installation Layout



This is floor plan of my installation in its final form. It is not drawn to scale. The distance between the fire exit and the north wall of the gallery is about 8 feet, and the distance from the "paddle box" on the west wall to "Flux" to the east is about 20 feet.







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This picture was taken while standing approximately where the directions are marked in the lower left-hand corner of the layout diagram.

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Section B
part 1-B

Sun God Animation -- "FLUX"

At the eastern end of the installation layout above, you will note the little box marked "Flux"; my animation was displayed here on a 13" monitor sitting on a pedestal.

Sun God Face
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A few semesters ago i created an animation in SoftImage(tm) to represent a figure which has since become an obsession, and subsequently, the focus of my MFA. The figure resembles a Native American sun god, whose face is laced with circuit board leads. A hand, representing man, is embedded in the pattern. The crown usually found surrounding such Native depictions is made up of electrical schematic symbols, such as those for power and ground.
Sand Painting
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In order to clarify and emphasize the relationship between the technological god and the hand of man, i began my animation with a sand painting of just the face; the hand appears close to the camera, then slowly moves back to be incorporated into the design.
Sun God Spinning
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Once the two elements have joined, the combined figure begins to become more streamlined and "high-tech." Having burst out of the 2nd dimension into the 3rd, the figure begins to spin on all 3 axes.


Underneath the monitor on which this was looping, i mounted kind of a "mission statement" for the so-called "Temple of the Divine Algorithm." It was written first in my goofy "hieroglyphic" alphabet (details later), then in regular English. Here's what it said:

THE DIVINE ALGORITHM
THE EQUATION THAT BUILT THE UNIVERSE

THIS TEMPLE IS DEVOTED TO THE TECHNOLOGY THAT ENABLES US TO UNDERSTAND THE STRUCTURE OF THE UNIVERSE. ALL BEINGS WERE GENERATED BY AN EQUATION TOO COMPLEX TO BE GRASPED BY A FINITE MIND. SOPHISTICATED COMPUTATIONAL DEVICES ARE GATEWAYS OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN MANKIND AND ITS CREATOR, THE DIVINE ALGORITHM. YOU AND YOUR TECHNOLOGY ARE LEARNING NOW WHAT ANCIENT PEOPLES HAVE KNOWN FOR CENTURIES. ALL THAT YOU DO IS ABSORBED INTO THE EQUATION. ALL OF YOUR OUTPUT BECOMES YOUR OWN INPUT, THE INPUT OF ALL YOUR FELLOW BEINGS, AND OF ALL FUTURE GENERATIONS. YOUR DATA WILL BE ECHOED AND AMPLIFIED THROUGH TIME AND SPACE UNTIL THE ALGORITHM HAS RUN ITS COURSE. CHOOSE YOUR KEYSTROKES WISELY.

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Paddle Box

  
The "Paddlebox," as i call this backlit thingamajig, was located at the western end of the installation. I took a piece of Plexiglas 32" wide by 48" high and painted the "TechnoGod" (the high-tech version of the sun god) onto it with stained-glass-effect paint. My father and i built a special box to hold this slide in front of a pair of fluorescent lights. So much for the "box" part, now on to the "paddle..."


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Fellow student and techno-whiz Jim Barr and i built a paddle that houses three light sensors. These sensors detect the presence or absence of light, and convey this information to a PC via a DG24 board. When light is detected by any sensor, the PC relays that information to an Indy, which plays a sound effect. Each sensor triggers a different note; we chose 3 sounds from the music track from "FLUX." Sliding the paddle over the sun god image, users could create a kind of melody by activating each sensor individually or in various combinations.
The paddle is constructed of tranluscent, neon-colored Plexiglas. This image shows the side of the paddle that the user touches; if you look closely, you will see the outline of a person's hand, the palm and thumb of which are filled with blue plastic. The hand's background is bright yellowish-green.
  

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The other side of the paddle is the one that has the light sensors, and is therefore the side that is meant to be held up to the paddle box. The bright orange plastic forms the face of the sun god. Two of the sensors can be seen (along with their square circuit boards) behind the two "lobes" of the god's head; the third is in his mouth (the small circle near the bottom of the paddle).

On the wall on either side of the paddle box were images designed to encourage the artistic archaeologist to interface with the Technogod. This particular image was mounted to the right of the paddle box. The one to its left was the mirror image.
  

"plaque.gif:" 8k

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Section B
part 1-B

Mountain Range Light Boxes

Mountain range
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Mountain range
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Mountain range
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I wrote a program in RT1 (a real-time animation language developed here at EVL) that randomly draws mountain ranges. I used this program to create a triptych of ranges, which i had printed out on translucent plastic and then mounted on light boxes my father and i built. Each light box was displayed with a data printout underneath it. The display on the left showed the hexadecimal code behind its corresponding image. In the center, there was a printout of the program used to draw the mountain ranges. Here, alphabetical text was replaced with my "hieroglyphics." On the right, i displayed a text translation of the corresponding image, although i admit i cannot remember what language spawned this particular bit of text.
Mountain program
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Here is an excerpt from the hieroglyphic printout of the program that generates the mountain ranges. This printout was the one that appeared underneath the center image.

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The Divine Algorithm

This is the title piece of my show, and its final form ended up being very, very different from its original plan (described in "SECTION B"). Back-to-back with the monitor on which FLUX was looping, there was a low pedestal on which sat a PC and a green monochrome monitor. This monitor was displaying what appeared to be the results of a very complex equation. All text was in my own hieroglyphic alphabet. Emerging from the PC was a ribbon cable, the other end of which was attached to a world globe sitting on the floor in front of the PC.
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Section B
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Show & Opening Invitation / Information


"invite.gif": 219k
This is the front of the invitation we sent out to announce our show. It was designed by Deb's lovely and talented husband, Scott Melchionda. And yes, we are aware that it is very phallic.
The group show, "Divine Organic Push/Pop" was open to the public at Gallery 400 (400 South Peoria, Chicago) from Wednesday May 8th through Wednesday May 15th, excluding the intervening weekend. Gallery hours are 9:00 am to 5 pm weekdays, 12:00 pm to 4 pm Saturdays.
Here is a map of the area surrounding Gallery 400. From the 90/94, exit to the westbound Eisenhower ("to western suburbs"). DO NOT MERGE LEFT when youreach the Eisenhower; instead, exit immediately to Morgan Street. If you want to look for street parking around the gallery, turn right onto Morgan, then right again at the first stoplight (Van Buren). To park in the closest available lot, turn left onto Morgan and then left again immediately into the visitor's parking lot.
       
Map to gallery
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The opening reception for "Divine Organic Push/Pop" was held on Wednesday May 8th from 4:00 pm until about 7:00 pm. Hors d'oeuvres and cocktails were served. Our guests enjoyed melon balls, cheese cubes, veggies and dip, and delightful little finger sandwiches. We also served beer, pop, and cheap wine. We had an excellent turnout (maybe 70 people!).
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Section B
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This page is located at http://www.evl.uic.edu/caylor/MASTERS/part1A.html
and was last modified 14 February 1997