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This piece translates a word you enter in the
“universal” language of binary. Binary can be represented by anything that
has two states—we commonly imagine it as 1 and 0 but it can be anything and
its opposite. Here I use “yes” and “no,” which creates a kind of dialogue
that any person from any culture can understand 2. Fool’s
Dictionary AKA Dictionary for the Ideal American This multimedia/new media piece is based on the common
American expression used by Americans who intend to say that they are not
racist: “I don’t see color!” This dictionary takes any word you try to enter
into it and tries to give you the definition of its antonym, its opposite. In
the case that this isn’t possible, it gives you a random result, often
resulting in absurd/lyric moments of surprise or delight(?) 3. A Simulation
of Black Twitter At the center of this new media piece, a pie chart is
populated with the popular topics of the day concerning the subculture of
"Black Twitter." These topics change dynamically since they are
taken live from Twitter. Over a short amount of time, however, whatever
conversations that are displayed from this community are overtaken by
outsider talk bubbles that swoop in and over the pie chart, appropriating the
conversation and making the original impossible to read. The user can swipe
them away for a time, but they will ultimately grow and fill the screen. This multimedia piece draws from an API database of
racist jokes—when a user interacts with the piece, a “setup” appears, moving
sporadically about the canvas until it settles and “dries.” However, these
racist jokes are always absent their punchline, foregrounding how menacing
these questions are when they are not allowed the laughter that lets the joke
teller off the hook. This piece works both as a timed “video” or can be
interacted with. Every time the user clicks (taps the screen, “knocks”) a
joke will appear. |