KRISTIN LUCAS & JOE MCKAY
Away From Keyboard

December 11, 2015 - January 23, 2016

Postmasters is pleased to present an exhibition of new works by Kristin Lucas and Joe McKay that playfully redirect the user experience away from everyday prescriptive movements.

1. Lucas investigates the uncanny and disorienting influence of digital technologies as they disrupt traditional notions of self, order and place.

2. McKay makes games with alternative interfaces that call to question our interactions with ubiquitous technologies.

3. The show will include individual works of each artist as well as a group of interactive sculptures, Tablet Tumblers. Tablet Tumblers are made collaboratively by Lucas and McKay under the collective name Electric Donut.


(Exhibition synopsis)

1. Kristin Lucas:

A. "Sole Soaker" is an interactive virtual environment that features a "pedestrian roller coaster" - a fictional roller coaster-like structure composed entirely of steps. Viewers can experience a first-person perspective of this enormous, fictional 'ride', using a game controller to climb and descend its stairways as the sea level gradually rises and falls around them. Based loosely on a climate change study for the state of Florida.

B. "Inventory" features a vending cart covered in 3d printed goods.

C. "Sick Waves" video is a mesmerizing telescoped whirl of waves that may produce a sensation of unease.


2. Joe McKay:

A. "OmegaMouse" is a computer game for one to six players. Players engage upon a wobbly plane that spins on a 3d axis as players leave and enter the play field.


3. Electric Donut:

A. "Tablet Tumbler: Flat Roller"
An object outfitted with mobile computing tablets functions as a multiple-camera recording device utilizing the tablets' built-in cameras. Recordings are presented as a continuous six-channel rolling point of view video that jump cuts through New York City-area living spaces. Participants navigate the tumbler through their own spaces and are given latitude for personal expression. Unlike traditional mapping services, the tumbler records its surroundings through a method of chance operation. "Flat Roller" takes no stock in logical pathways, practical outcomes, or completeness.

B. "Tablet Tumbler: Martian Sol Cycle"
Visualizes a full day of the sky as seen from Mars.
The view rotates on Martian time.

C. "Tablet Tumbler: PlusPlus" is ecstatic about increments.
The title "PlusPlus" is derived from programming languages. The operator "++" is used to represent a variable's increase in value.

D. "Tablet Tumbler: Upscale Scribble"
Interaction draws a red line on Google Maps. Small movements produce larger than life scribbles. Plays with impact scale.


(Food for thought)

The design of the Tablet Tumbler object has many human-engineered technological references, including the wheel which allowed for mechanized systems, the cable drum which is used to lay communication wires across land and sea, and the Google Street View car. Cyclical and cinematic references include the pre-cinema zoetrope, film loop, animated GIF, and programmed computer routine. Considering that interaction with the object requires human will and physical power, there is a playful connection to the story of Sisyphus who is compelled to push a rock up a hill over and again. There is also a mythical connection to the recent Japanese video game Katamari Damacy in which users participate in a narrative by pushing a magical adhesive ball around the city and its surroundings, collecting increasingly larger objects from thumb tacks to people to airplanes to mountains until it the ball is large enough to form a star. From yet another point of view in our fast-changing world of technological innovation, the Tablet Tumbler object can be seen as tumbleweed of aging technology.


(Credits)

The Tablet Tumbler series was produced with the support of Eyebeam, Foundation for Contemporary Arts (FCA), SUNY Purchase College, and The University of Texas at Austin College of Fine Arts.

	Kristin Lucas & Joe McKay Away From Keyboard 2015 Installation View
	Kristin Lucas & Joe McKay Away From Keyboard 2015 Installation View
	Kristin Lucas & Joe McKay Away From Keyboard 2015 Installation View
	Kristin Lucas Sole Soaker 2015 virtual environment with sound, mac mini, projection, game controller dimensions variable edition 2 of 3 + AP
	Kristin Lucas Inventory 2015 digitally fabricated sculpture; 3D prints: 6 soft serve ice cream, 5 water bottles, 4 sunglasses, 2 flip flops, 1 hotdog, 1 binocular; umbrella, lounge chairs dimensions variable unique
	Kristin Lucas Inventory 2015 3D prints: soft serve ice cream water bottles sunglasses flip flops hotdogs binoculars open edition
	Kristin Lucas Sick Waves 2015 single channel HD video, color, silent 30 second loop editon 2 of 3 + AP
	Joe McKay Omega Mouse 2015 computer video game for 1-6 players 1 mac mini, 6 mice, table, monitor, sound dimensions variable unique
	Electric Donut Tablet Tumbler: PlusPlus 2015 polymetal aluminum, 6 tablets, app 46 inches diameter edition of 1 + AP
	Electric Donut Tablet Tumbler: Martian Sol Cycle 2015 polymetal aluminum, 6 tablets, app 46 inches diameter edition of 1 + AP
	Electric Donut Tablet Tumbler: Upscale Scribble 2015 polymetal aluminum, 6 tablets, app 42 inches diameter edition of 1 + AP