OSHIBUCHI auto-changer
Temporary Space Works
Studio Gallo: San Antonio, TX 1999
An evolved coalescence of the chrysalis installations, OSHIBUCHI auto changer was suspended inside a linear gallery space of a graphic and web design firm. The installation measured over 60 feet in length and 5 feet at its widest. Three fiberglass shells reinforced by bamboo strips and metal screen that were supported between a ceiling-hung box frame oshibuchi (the horizontal supports in traditional Japanese fence construction) comprised the auto-changer.
Monitors and sound producing machines, as organs within the body, were activated by incoming and outgoing Internet information.These three elements were informed by an insect’s carapace tripartite form of head, thorax, and abdomen and the reactive devices inside by organ metaphors in relation to the body that supported them.
Upon entry into the space, motion detectors activated a nonlinear pulsing syncopated rhythm of light emitting diodes embedded in the fiberglass and metal mesh skin, a sign of the auto-changer’s becoming aware of bodies moving in the space. The thorax contained a windshield wiper motor that agitated a piece of bamboo through a gap in the carapace and produced a drumming sound. The abdomen contained a cannibalized vibrating massager that shook violently and loudly when a spectator came within range of its sensor.
With the intensity level of the reactions increasing as users moved through the space, the auto-changer introduced a parasitic approach fully integrating the biological/social/noise-inspired implications of its origin.
