Channels

Art Installation, 2002

Commissioned by the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine

for the Medical Education and Biomedical Research Facility

I hope that Channels will become an enjoyable environment for the Medical Education and Biomedical Research Facility both as an artery for pedestrians moving through the hallway and as a stopping point to observe the variations in the software. Anyone traversing the length of Channels might first feel the rhythm of the red line as it runs its course — looping, drooping, climbing and opening up to surround the big monitors. Each pair of monitors reveals the activities of a small world where symmetry is the guiding physical rule. On the leftmost monitor pair, the 'swarm' moves from screen to screen by alternating between chaotic mass and orderly crystalline pattern. It is a symbol for the temporality of our thoughts, ideas and actions. The 'tree', on the middle pair of monitors, unfolds equally on both screens by growing, receding and occasionally sprouting an asymmetrical flower. On the far right pair of monitors, 'fountain' shows two views of creativity. In one view, the surface is everything, slowly filling the screen with a pattern and on the other, the process, seen obliquely, takes primary importance as ideas are endlessly recycled into new imagery. This work is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Richard P. Nelson. -- Artist Statement, 2002

Original Poster Announcement