Rupture

Fig. 4. Gene Cooper, detail from the interactive installation Rupture, 1993. Rupture consisted of a complex web of systems, each of which relates to a general theme of exploring hidden system structures of the body, environment and computer. change rapidly because of its short orbital periods of about 90 min, while images from geostationary orbit would show a "full" and stationary Earth with day, night and weather patterns coming and going. The intent of this everchanging display is to provide us with a new "world" view that demonstrates a symbiotic relationship between ourselves and our planet and to present the Earth from a perspective in which no single ideology or culture dominates . In addition to the use ofvarious satellites , we propose that future interplanetary probes contain a color video camera that "beams" back the receding view of the Earth-moon system on a continual basis. All images would be arrayed simultaneously on the TV screen so that multiple vantage points in and of space and time are represented. Occasionally , other probes, such as Galileo, might supply spectacular views from, for example, above or below the equatorial (ecliptic) plane. One immediate forum for the distribution of these images would be the Public Broadcasting System in the United States. As a test, college and university public television stations (e.g. WPSX at Pennsylvania State University) would broadcast images from weather satellites and various space shuttle flights to experiment with format, background audio, audience response, etc. To further test the Earthview concept, a cable channel such as C-SPAN (publicaccess TV) would be temporarily dedicated to this exploration-through creative application of art, science and technology-of our relationship to ourselves and our planet. Note l.Jonas Salk, 'The Next Evolntionary Step in the Ascent of Man in the Cosmos," Leonardo18, No.4. 237-242 (1985). RUPTURE Gene Cooper, 4900 Council St. NE, Cedar Rapids, IA 52402, U.S.A. E-mail: . Rupture, an interactive installation, involved a complex web of systems, each of which relates back to a general theme of exploring hidden system structures of the body, environment and computer (Fig. 4 and Color Plate A No.2). The installation, shown in April 1993 at the Left Bank Gallery in Kansas City, Missouri, relied heavily upon the interaction of the viewer to "activate" the space. On 23 April 1993 a performance event, or "happening," was held at the gallery in conjunction with a local "Art Trek" night. The event brought in 400-500 people who activated the space, contributing new ideas, thoughts, feelings, concerns and issues to the installation. The main space contained an array of uprooted trees placed upside down, exposing their root systems. Upon entering the space, viewers were invited to wear mining helmets to explore the dimly lit passageways and alcoves ereated by the uprooted trees. Hidden within the passageways were a series of 10 digitally manipulated images containing fragments of tornadoes, blood vein systems, double-helix structures, atomic collision chambers, etc. These 30-x-40-in images were also printed as postcards and distributed to the public along with tiny (2-x-2-in) wooden time capsules containing fragments from the installation. A final element that I became particularly interested in incorporated a series of computers that viewers were invited to interact with. Inside the cavern -like installation, two Macintosh Plus computer monitors displayed a series of writings. The writings were the stories, memories, secrets, thoughts and accidents that viewers were invited to type into two keyboards located in a space apart from the main installation. In a corner of the nearby gallery space were the two basic keyboards (no computer or monitor in sight, only the keyboards), where viewers could type their story or secret. As they typed their stories into one of the two keyboards, the text appeared anonymously in the cavernesque installation space on one of the two monitors. A third computer was linked via modem to a gallery across town where viewers at the other gallery space would again type stories or memories or accidents into a solitary keyboard secretly connected to a computer . The text would then be transmitted via modem to a computer in the main cavern and be displayed on...