Interface for Translated Text

Interface for Translated Text displays fragments of conversation gathered while walking through the urban landscape. As proximity to others and states of flux are defining elements of cities, each object cycles through a collection of phrases overheard in passing and documented thereafter. These sentence fragments are then randomly looped to form new conversations with the viewer. The act of translation is performed not in shifting from one language to another but from one context to another, through a different medium.

Inrō Stereolithography

During the Edo period (1603–1868) Japanese travelers could be found wearing a small carrying case known as inrō. Literally meaning “seal basket” (印籠), inrō were used to store important items like medicine or one’s personal seal for stamping documents. Production of these utilitarian objects of lacquer, wood, or ivory developed into the trade of highly skilled craftsman. For my own version of inrō, I drew from the formal properties of crystal, which has its own talismanic quality. The piece was designed in CAD software and printed three dimensionally at NYU’s Advanced Media Studio.