wwwSomnambulator

2006
wwwSomnambulator was created for the online exhibition SURGE copresented by free103point9 and Rhizome.

wwwSomnambulator sets out to alleviate current manifestations of the Stendahl Syndrome, a psychosomatic illness caused by overexposure to beautiful art named after the French writer Marie Henri Boyle (1783-1842). Now, the artists ironically assert, this syndrome may be incurred by the visual content of the web. Inspired by the mesmeric windmill images first transmitted by radio and television pioneer Charles Francis Jenkins in 1925, 31 Down creates a three-step web hypnosis process with live web transmissions of three windmills that is meant to hypnotize viewers and empower their exit from dangerously saturated online landscapes.

Somnambulator Machine design by Mirit Tal and Ryan Holsopple. Somnambulator voice by Shauna Kelly. Web design by Mirit Tal. Sound by Ryan Holsopple. All music was created from files found at The FreeSound Project. The Freesound Project is a collaborative database of Creative Commons licensed sounds. Sounds were originated for this piece by Mike Sharpie, Freed, plagasul, suonho, JimPurbrick, sweet_trip and NoiseCollector. Thanks to Benjamin Brown, Shawn Van Every, and Shannon Sindelar. Special thanks to Galen Joseph-Hunter, free103point9, Lauren Cornell and Rhizome.