Creature Convention

Animation / Kinesiology / Digital Media / X



Electrical Sensory Shock

On Halloween night, 1996, the annual Diversity in the Arts show was being held inside the Shaffer Art building at Syracuse University. As people approched the multimedia installation, their focus shifted to the TV, where ripples were alive, flickering with brilliant colors.

Will I get shocked?

"Touch the Magic Screen"


"Will I get shocked?" was the common question. Many were so hesitant and suspicious they wouldn't even try. Most everyone reached down super slow. The college chicks were the most fun to watch. They pushed each other to try to get the other one to try it first. On contact, EVERY person was shocked to find their fingers, or entire hand, immersed in a pool of water. Ripples on ripples with power running under it: Nobody would have guessed. "It was like having twenty-thousand volts pumped through your spine!" explained Tom Sherman, proffesor of Art Media Studies at Syracuse University.

Friend and esteemed painter, Bill Powheida, in a completely balligerant state had no fear of the "Magic Screen" and threw his entire arm through the water, unaware that anything was there at all. Water exploded everywhere and he went into what appeared to be sensory shock, and jumped around in circles for quite a while, screaming and hollaring. The television shorted out, and the piece had to be shut down for about twenty minutes. It was noted that if the water had not been touched for a while, the surface would build up a static electric charge, enough to actually shock. Water is a very good conductor of electricity.

This optical illusion was quite unintentional. It manifested itself from an altered state of conciousness the prior summer, durring a summer elective, Computer Character Animation. In Advanced Sculpture. Structural engineering skills and some tricks with a blacklight produced one of the best sensory experiences for the time. Carey Peppermint described the piece as a "bizarre altar". The idea is that this is a castle that is a connection to a phsycic power grid, using television waves as an interference pattern.

"twenty-thousand volts pumped through your spine!"

reflections, ripples and mirrors


EmFs from Powerline Transformers

Electric Powerline Conciousness

The particular room I was staying in was in what I could feel, a hot spot for powerlines. The tranformer box was located nearby, outside. I was not used to the differing electromagnetic fields surrounding powerlines because I come from a very rural area in the state of Vermont. I saw everything break down into a grid pattern. The electrical socket in wall stood out over everything else. It was luminescent. I had to get some fresh air. When I went out on the upstairs porch, I saw a powerline whip out from a street light and attach into the house at the moment there was a door slam. I shuttered away in fear. When I looked back, the same thing, whip - slam! I hesitated to look up again, because I knew if I did the same vision would occur. The longer I waited, the more anticipation would built up. Any glance produced the same effect. Every time the street lights arms lashed at me, the same door would slam. Altered states of consciousness bring about the most unusual brain chemestry effects.

Trying to go to sleep that night was imposible. I got locked into a conversation with the downstairs neigbor, which wouldn't have been unusual if I wasn't talking to he and his wife through a TV set. No matter what station he turned to, it was me talking to him through another vibe. My buddy, Jon Allen, had a hard time sleeping that night too. He said, "your head wouldn't shut up for the love of god!" I found that night that an electromagnetic field can complety interfere with natural brainstates and make consciousness skip brain waves across everyday aplyances. The next day I drew a picture of a pizza box crossing my perfiperal line of sight infront of a sink, counter and refrigerator. That gave rise to what looked like an altered castle, and ultimately, this multimedia installation.







Yellow Period

Portfolio


Ring of Keys

Time Lapse


Infant Universe

Poster


Cloudbreak

Background


Rail Rodder

Halloween Show


Threshold

Rubbing Collage


Animation / Kinesiology / Digital Media / X
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