Dimensions: 5'x5' in diameter.
Interactive foot switches, a monitor, a Macintosh computer.
Custom foot switches designed by Ed Scerbo
Customized keyboard designed by Richard Curcio

1: A: An amplifying or explanatory word, phrase, or sentence inserted into a passage, usually set off by punctuation. B: A remark or passage that departs from the theme or discourse; a digression. 2: Interlude; interval. 3: One or both of the curved marks ( ) used in writing and printing to enclose a parenthetical expression or to group a symbolic unit in a logical or mathematical expression.

This work existed in three different forms: a web piece, a CD-ROM, and an installation. It is, on one level, a very personal piece. I was born in England but spent most of my life in America, in upstate New York, in a city called Buffalo. My father was part of the American Indian Movement and was present at Wounded Knee in 1973. He was moved by the Native American struggle and decided to join the movement.

I wanted to include an image that begins art history (in many art history texts) and makes reference to my own history. For me, the bison is a metaphor for a land that has been replaced with concrete and pollution—a land that is nearly an endangered species. This environmental theme is an observation or warning.

The work comes out of an interest in the relationship between sound and image, a juxtaposition of time—what had existed before and what exists now—and a juxtaposition of materials—natural, found materials with technology.For the installation, I wanted the images and sounds to change according to the given environment at a given time. In other words, people’s movements inside the installation would change the music and images, giving the piece a reactive, ambient quality.

The piece is a narrative without traditional narrative conventions. The installation consists purely of imagery and music, so the narrative has to be read without the use of words. I wanted the images themselves to raise questions in the viewer. This is not intended to be a statement of truth, merely philosophical inquiry on a personal level. The web piece did include text to give the viewer another element to contemplate as the images were downloading. I also chose to include spoken narration on the CD, not as an attempt to explain the imagery, but as another element to run parallel with the images and music and, in turn, enhance the narrative in this context.