Dipole is an interactive installation of light and sound that addresses themes of connectivity and communication through DIY practices, electronics prototyping and programming, and collaboration among gallery patrons.

 

Two custom-built terminals are placed at opposite corners of the gallery, situated such that the column at the center of the space occludes them from each other’s view. Each terminal is equipped with an arcade joystick and button kit that controls a number of colored led light fixtures and ambient sounds.

 

When at rest, the exhibition glows red at one corner and blue at the other, representing the visual language of many dichotomies; players one and two, positive and negative, warm and cool, political alignment, and manifold other duplicities may be connoted by the static red and blue lights. When activated by button presses and joystick maneuvers, however, the exhibition will turn light fixtures on and off in various colors, and modify the ambient sounds filling the exhibition space.

 

The exhibition’s name is inspired by the dipole antenna, commonly used for receiving television signals. The antenna consists of two separate metal poles which catch electromagnetic waves of particular frequencies. As the peaks and troughs of these frequencies meet the antenna, they push the electrons in the poles back and forth, oscillating the two ends between positive and negative repeatedly.

 

Conceptually, the two terminals’ charges are fixed until participants become actively engaged in the process of sending and receiving information. As the two users, invisible to one another, explore the functionality of their respective terminals, will they eventually communicate in an abstract language of light and sound? What sorts of interactions will arise? Can they become empowered to disrupt predictable and pendular communication loops through play?

 

Dipole is meant to facilitate an interactive aesthetic experience that requires the public to subvert the binary system that they have been given in exchange for a more polyphonic experience which they themselves create.

 

This exhibition addresses The Department of Art’s mission and vision by embodying a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach to art making. Dipole blends the handmade and coded into an installation that is formally rich and conceptually challenging.