Secret Code: Part II.

I've already mentioned several works at Code 1, part of the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad.  But there were a few other installations I wanted to note.


First is  Wang Yuyang's Artificial Moon. This giant globe is constructed of over 4,000 industrial light bulbs greeted visitors as they entered this warehouse turned art space.  And it was a dramatic greeting.  I particularly liked the way the light bulbs seemed to mimic the mottled surface of the moon. (Thanks for the photo Felix.)

For sheer art installation fun, it's tough to beat Ken Rinaldo's Paparazzi Bots.  These robots are wired to identify a person then work tirelessly to follow that person and take as many pictures as possible.  It's pretty dang fun to be stalked by a robotic camera.  Here's one robot that took a liking to me.

No I'm not dancing the Flamenco, I'm just trying to take a picture of me as seen by one of the Paparazzi Bots.

Supposedly these photos get posted to the Web.  But I've been following the photo stream on Flickr and I haven't been able to figure out how they are posted.  But I'll keep watching.

If you long for the boom box culture of the 1980s, then Foreign Voices, Common Stories (Ghettoblaster) by Canadian artist James Phillips might be for you.  This installation celebrates a design sensibility that seems to have no place in our modern, smaller-is-always-better world.  These machines make modern music lovers look like a bunch of wimps, with our namby-pamby iPods and itty-bitty ear buds.  (Although I did notice that the actual sound coming from the boom boxes was powered by iPods attached to the ghetto blasters.)  Each boom box was equipped with a motion detector so as you walked through the installation, the whole thing came to life with a variety of voices telling stories from around the world about the cultural significance of the ghetto blaster. We take portable music for granted because it's just so easy.  But there was a time, when you had to commit to taking your music with you.  And this installation perfectly captured that sentiment.