Smoke signals are an ancient form of communication used by many cultural groups of the world. The Indigenous Plains Tribes of North America used smoke to signal hunting parties. Because the smoke was visible to all in the same geographical location the messages had to be exclusive to those only in the know.
In my project, the smoke is used as a projection screen and as the message; the smoke is a formless yet sculptural binary language; quite simply it is code. Texting is an immediate and fragmentary medium with only small portions of the message visible on the screen. Messages are truncated and often abbreviated due to the 160 character limit of data transmission. This is an example of how language is dynamic and adapts to the technology yet simultaneously the language is available to those in the know, almost unintelligible gibberish by those unfamiliar with such messages as: LOL, ROFLMAO, BRB, etc.
Detaching the message from the cell phone onto a projection screen opens it to everyone for interpretation. Projecting onto plumes of smoke over the city skyline turns it into poetry and performance art as intervention.
NEWS
Dates and venues TBA
Video documentation of the on-going project will be posted very shortly.