Jennifer Zaylea
Artist & Educator
Lost Context is a new interactive sight, sound and text installation project that I am working on.
This interactive piece plays on the concept of the childhood "telephone" game. It was generated as a way of exploring the recent politics of America and the associated power arising from repetition of falsehoods and the distortion of truths. More notably, it is referencing humanities cursory association with language and the contextual memory of words. It begs the question, when have we completely lost the original context and truthful meaning of a statement? Perhaps there is never any way to even create truthful meaning in language because it is constantly subject to the environment of changing participants.
The piece would ideally be installed in a gallery setting with five motion sensors and five screens visualizing text/color. The text, appearing on screen, is altered via the motion sensors after the viewer passes in front of the sensors. The shift, consisting of text/color/sound, is minor yet perceivable and calls for the viewer to re-read the text on the earlier screen even though the viewer has already moved onto subsequent screens.
The early working project was awarded third place in the New Media juried exhibition at the 2021 University Film and Video conference.
Lost Context
Mockup of installation
Mockup of installation
Mockup of installation
Mockup of installation
To Walk The Juncture is a new sight, sound and text installation project that I am working on.
I am investigating the function of both the physical and conceptual aspects of the term juncture. I am interested in the ways in which people navigate and experience junctures. This can be most easily experienced when a reader is allowed to make a game choice when reading an interactive text. What makes a reader choose one way versus another? Could it be from the ways two words create a particular juncture? Could it be the way sound might shift from one pitch to another as the reader turns a page? Is the reader conscious of the initial decision making process underlying the final decision to turn a page?
To Walk The Juncture is currently a work in progress. The images (included here) show a scaled model of the piece. The ‘walls’ making up this accordion style book will be made of paper and have text and sound imbedded within them. The ‘walls’ will be 8′ tall and 4.5′ wide with doors and windows that the viewer may choose to pass through as they navigate the written text and/or the aural experience.