ISEA 2006: C4F3

Work Samples

Osman Khan

see quicktime (8.7 MB)		Weapons of Mass Consumption Weapons of Mass Consumption is a series of discrete interactive installations that explore the vernacular swipe of the magnetic (credit, debit and payment) card. Data Dump: As a visitor swipes his/her card throught the magnetic card reader, the data held on their card is visually dumped into the virtual pit for all to see and remains there until the dump is cleared out. Net Worth: After visitor swipes their purchase card, Net Worth googles the visitor's name and ranks them vertically according to the number of hits returned by the Google Search Engine. Their name appears on the projection among others who have swiped as well as some higher "net worth" individuals. Art Dispensing Machine: The ADM plays with the notion of creating art in the age of digital reproduction. Using Market-Of-One strategies, where companies wish to market and provide goods and services targeted at individual preferences, the ADM produces unique prints available for the visitor to take with them Khan Artist: In Khan Artist, the artist appropriates the act and systems of credit consumption. Registering as a validated merchant with a fully operational credit processing machine and account, the Artist (or through a sales rep proxy) asks the visitor to make a purchase - though no product or service is returned in kind at the time of transaction. The visitor's purchase card will be charged an amount of money (a minimum of $1.00 is required, though the visitor can willingly offer a higher amount). The Artist's name will show up on the itemized list of the visitor's monthly statement.

see quicktime (5.9 MB)		We interrupt your regularly scheduled program... We interrupt your regularly scheduled program… is a media installation that explores the social condition of the television and our relationship to it. The installation wishes to investigate the very nature of television with its numerous channels, its ubiquity and its perpetual flow. The installation setup is as follows: A television is placed facing the wall, its flickering glow reflecting off the wall and its sound echoing in the space. Its broadcast signal is simultaneously sent to a computer, where customized software processes the broadcast in real time by collapsing every frame of the television image into a one pixel-wide slice. These slices are horizontally arranged in sequence and projected back onto the wall next to the television set, showing an abstracted history of the broadcast signal. Collaborators: Daniel Sauter

see quicktime (3.8 MB)		Sur la table Sur la table revisits the domestic situation of the table. Events that normally occur on/over a table (the placing of objects, the eating of food, hand gestures, etc…) are amplified through projection and become the basis for interactivity, ultimately changing the visitor's relation to the table. The installation setup is as follows: A camera is placed above the table, capturing events occurring on/over the table, which are sent to a computer, where customized software processes the image, so that non-white objects visually appear to stream their color down. This processed image is then projected back onto the table. Thus, a historic timeline of events over the table is visualized as a continuous flow of images down the table. The installation works with a single or multiple tables. Multiple tables are networked via UDP, so that the image stream from one table flows on to another and so on. This creates the condition for an abstracted telepresence of events happening on multiple tables. These tables can be placed in proximity to one another or in geographically diverse places.
Liminal Projects (Omar Khan & Laura Garofolo)
see quicktime (11.8 MB)		mech[a] OUTPUT mech[a] OUTPUT (direction, choreography and dance by Koosil-ja Hwang, live video by Benton Bainbridge and sound by Geoff Matters)is a reworking of the Japanese Noh play Dojoji as a one person dance performance. It is centered on the inner thoughts of the female protagonist which in the traditional Noh play are not explored. The environment design expresses this inward turning through its location in the overall space and the relationship it creates between performer and audience. The 20’x20’ Noh main stage (butai) is placed at an angle to the performance space’s column grid allowing one column to sit on it. The audience, musician and videographer are seated so that they enclose the stage. The performance centers on a temple bell in which the protagonist takes refuge. The column on the stage (painted black) represents the bell’s exterior while an acrylic pendulum containing a flat screen monitor represents its interior. The hanging monitor plays the dancer’s choreography that only she can see while another flat screen monitor sits on the edge of the stage displaying a virtual environment full of cherry blossoms that the videographer controls. The dancer performs to three sides of the stage, using the pendulum to re-inscribe the enclosed space of her tortured existence.