Feng Shui Machine

Wind direction and speed were measured at a cave entrance. For the art installation this breeze has been recreated using small fans and the wind data collected transformed into musical tones. A video image of a cave portal is placed above the fans along with a modified computer keyboard. When a visitor presses the keys, musical notes are played and the cave image switches to a cluttered desktop background.

Feng Shui (wind-water) is a philosophy regarding the relationship between humans and their surrounding environment. However, the Internet has changed how we perceive and interact with the world; the computer is now our essential and fundamental connection to the outside. In my piece, the wind becomes music when no one is present but when a visitor presses the computer keys, nature becomes a digital background – another screensaver. The work questions the fantasy that we can communicate with nature through technology. To me, there is no Feng Shui-machine – human-computer interaction is dystopian, lonely, and symptomatic of a culture too reliant on technology.