56 modified resin Buddha models, 40 solenoids, 28 LEDs, wood, gold leaf, custom software, video, and sound.
Info about the piece written by Heather Dewey-Hagborg and Dorothy Santos for the exhibition catalog: "Lee Blalock's multidisciplinary practice addresses the limits and future extensions of the body as enabled by emerging technology. Through performance, painting, and programming, she imagines the liberating potential of other worlds, bodies, and systems to "express all that is censored in the performance of everyday life". sy5z3n_4: Medi(a)tation for Virtual Respiration replaces the natural act of breathing with a computational system of sound, data, and image, removing breath from the body. Here, fifty-six resin Buddha statues - modified with toy robot parts and outfitted with tambourine jingles, solenoids (coils of wire used as electromagnets), and LEDs - perform behaviors choreographed through custom software designed by the artist. Emphasizing the circular nature of breath, the Buddha statues are installed in a circle on a square pedastal reminiscent of a shrine, and surround a small monitor playing a video of a meditating cybermonk who performs their own algorithm. In sy5z3n_4: Medi(a)tation for Virtual Respiration, Blalock explores the dynamic form meditation can take when it is surrounded by signal and noise.
On the night of the opening, the artist sits on the floor with eyes fixed on one of the breathing Buddha statues while playing a drone on another tablet, in an attempt to match its pace. This act brings all bodies together, breathing as one.
Images:
Row1: Images of installation [photos courtesy of REFRESH, Eyebeam, and Hunter College Art Galleries].
Row2: Images of performance [photos from various attendees].
Row3: Detail shots of components, module, and installation plan.
