Semaphore, Board Game & Symbol
San Jose, Melbourne, Indianapolis
Adobe, Digital Harbour, International Airport
LED, Laser Cut, Stone
Rubin and Innocent
Below continues the comparison on three works installed between August 2006 and September 2007. Today I leave the comparisons stark as I don’t know yet, what to make of the simultaneous birthing of the works. I started with the online-inperson duality of the Troy Innocent’s Field of Play and then added Ben Rubin’s San Jose Semaphore with its unknown message that is broadcast in LED and online. Dale Enochs’ Elemental Indiana joins the group as the traditional stone sculptor depending on the legibility of simple symbols – similar in form to Innocent and Rubin, but intended to be read. Innocent and Rubin have no interest in the translation of each graphic itself.
Please give me some help on why these works are so compelling to examine.
Glenn Weiss. gw@glennweiss.com
Enochs
Four Identical Rotating Amber Light Circular Shapes
Three Invented Logographic Writing Styles in Three Separate Colors
Square, Circle, Triangle and Guitar Pick representing Earth, Water, Fire and Wind
On Internet, view animation and webcam. In Field, view moving semaphores and listen to sounds on radio.
On Internet, interact with animation and view webcam. In Field, interact with plaza-scaled game board and hear sounds. Click here to play online.
On Internet, view still picture. In Field, view still sculpture.
On Website, specific links to learn about semaphores, code cracking, relevant San Jose history and the sounds of the atomic clock.
On Website, no specific links to learn. Links could exist for Janken, Logographic Languages, Contemporary Pictograms and Munsterberg Illusion (Architecture)
On Website, no website developed. Links could exist for the sacred geometry.
Audience of the code crackers, semaphore historians, intellectual arts crowd, San Jose drivers and anyone that likes to be mesmerized
Audience of bridge and checkers internet players, techno graphic artists and Digital Harbour workers
Audience of bored travellers and followers of sacred geometries
Troy Innocent, Ben Rubin, Dale Enochs
Quote:
Located within the top floors of Adobe’s Almaden Tower headquarters in San Jose, California, San Jose Semaphore is a multi-sensory kinetic artwork that illuminates the San Jose skyline with the transmission of a coded message. The content of the San Jose Semaphore’s message is a mystery; cracking the encryption technique and deciphering the message is posed as a challenge for the public. To the first person or group to successfully crack the code, Adobe will award bragging rights and acknowledgment on both the Adobe website (www.adobe.com) and the San Jose Semaphore website.
Adobe’s Almaden Tower is situated directly beneath the flight path for aircraft landing at the Mineta San Jose International Airport, and the San Jose Semaphore is sensitive to the passage of aircraft above it. When a plane flies overhead, Semaphore reacts visibly to the disturbance, and its steady rhythm is broken. After the plane has passed, the disks resume their steady, purposeful transmission.
San Jose Semaphore is a slow-motion magnifier for data transmission that functions as a beacon in the San Jose skyline. Unlike digital signals that pass invisibly through the air and across microscopic circuitry, the San Jose Semaphore’s communication efforts are visible for all to see.
Quote:
Play has become an integral part of almost every aspect of contemporary life. Field of Play is an urban art environment that transforms Digital Harbour into a zone for play. It consists of digital icons rendered in a range of materials that are integrated within the surrounding architecture and landscape. Central to the work are three iconographic languages inspired by electronic networks, digital games, and tribal cultures. They represent the communities that work and play within Digital Harbour.
After dark, a digital game generates patterns of light and sound via the illuminated icons in Harbour Lane. Inspired by the classic game of rock-paper-scissors (Janken), it may be played online or on site. Gameplay is based on interaction between the three sets of iconography – orange, blue and green. The game connects two different kinds of public space – the virtual space of the Internet and the real space of Digital Harbour.
Quote: None available. Dale Enoch’s website has no text except for his resume.