SOI

For this project I intend to re-invent the use of old technology, items such as old telephones, typewriters, record players and so on. I want to warp the functionality of these machines and change their output. I intend to explore how this transforms the way a user would interact with the machine. For example, how does the viewer use a telephone when it’s function is to display a series of images rather than a place to punch in a code to link up to another telephone. I hope to use the old machines simply as a frame. I won’t tamper with their circuits but use them as a control. The reason I am using them is for their clear old / retro connotations. An old telephone, for example, isn’t expected to be able to control images that flash up and I want the viewer to be shocked or surprised at the machines recreated functionality.

To achieve this I think I will need to use flash? For keys on a keypad to be able to work with a computer, essentially, create a midi keyboard?

I intend for it to exist as a series of machines in different places in a room. There will be a number of projectors around the room projecting images into the space; these images are controlled by the machines that are around the room.

This idea of using technology in a different way was inspired by a comment on a UVA interview "it's not always about the newness of a technology that makes things interesting, sometimes it's using an old technology in a new way".