Semiotic Cell

Fig. 5. Ana Richardson, Rocker, 1994. The Rocker is a sculptural element in the installation Semiotic Cell. the Industrial Age. In performances, directors such as Vsevold Meyerhold used mathematical formulas as the basis for the machine-like movements of actors used to depict industry in the theater and, in the broader sense, in life itself. In the case of An Object Orientation, the relationship of man and machine is still being explored. At the dawn of the Information Age, today's industry is computers and, more specifically, the software that runs on computers. An Object Orientation is a play that uses an "object-oriented" software-programming language as its structural base to define a new performance aesthetic for the man-and-machine relationship in the information age. Object-oriented technology is a revolutionary software methodology that utilizes "reusable" modules to make software more interchangeable and better able to simulate real-world events, places and things. The actors playing objects in the play continually recast themselves in new roles-becoming in a way reusable characters, modifying their behavior according to changes dictated by the various scenes and interactions (Fig. 4). The correlation between the human metaphors and the hidden technological concepts (polymorphism, inheritance , classes, etc.) in the play demonstrates how new software environments more closely mimic the way people interact and shows the need for maintaining a humanistic approach in our technology -driven world. In fact, as its central theme, the play uses the computer search as a metaphor for the human search for meaning and blurs the boundaries between the two. Note I. An Object Orientation was supported by the Object Management Group (OMG), a non-profit consortium of over 400 computer companies from all over the world; Stanford University; and One Abstract, Inc., a San Francisco based creative/strategic consulting firm. The Stanford University Department of Drama hosted in 1993 a workshop production of the play in which group discussions after each performance with members of the general public and representatives of Silicon Valley computer companies provided important feedback about the ideas in the script. Carl Weber, a former associate of Bertolt Brecht and a Stanford drama faculty member , was the literary advisor for the play. SEMIOTIC CEU Ana Richardson, 4, Place de Seoul 75014 Paris, France. Composed of concrete, ceramics, acrylic crystal, water, electricity, grass, machines , metal and earth, the Semiotic Cell 268 Words on Works is a closed circular perception area [l] in which the viewer can move about. By north, south, east or west, the viewer reaches a stretch of level ground: the square lawn of the Semiotic Cell. Two meters from the inner border of the square lawn, hundreds of aligned aquatic stepping stones reflect a glimpse of the sky, creating another imaginary square. A string of hundreds of heavenly mirrors, of blue or other shades depending on the mood of the sky, tempt the viewer to cool his or her feet in the water trickling over aquatic squares. In the middle of the square lawn, surrounded by a ring of grass-the hyper-expressionist garden-stands the closed cylindrical structure of the Semiotic Cell. Its cylindrical wall and slightly conical concrete roof are entirely covered by orange -red ceramic medallions, like millions of little suns embedded in its skin. Entering the cell from the south, the viewer moves slowly down through a hollow steel cube to the underground part of the cell. At the end of the cube, the viewer leaves his or her shoes in a labeled cubbyhole in the wall. The circular double steel doors slide open, and in deep silence the viewer is alone in a narrow corridor entirely covered in Venetian cloth. The only light in this 3600 red peripheral corridor comes through 34 peepholes in the 36 doors of the inner wall. The viewer can see 34/36 positions of the Celland its field by rotating 3600 in the corridor. A few doors open on the peripheral side and close automatically . Other doors are locked. They all lead directly into the central cylinder of the cell. If the viewer enters the central cylinder by the east door, he or she enters an orange semicircle. The MotherImageis a mimetic machine...