(left) Jacquelyn Sparks is piecing together clues from her grandfather’s life to create her Momentum Spotlight project Reconstructing Charles Proctor. Pictured is a collection of love letters between her grandfather and grandmother written 30 years after their divorce.
On researching a relative, which could be unnerving to some, she says that she doesn’t “think of him so much as ‘my grandfather’ but as someone who I’m compiling a biography about.” In fact, she found that they shared at least a skin-deep connection: after receiving his veterans record, she discovered that they have the same fingerprint pattern. She asks in her artist statement, “When an individual leaves their community, either through death or choice, does their presence remain?” For Jacquelyn, and all the spectators at Momentum, the answer is yes – and in a form that she says makes us “no longer onlooker[s] but active participant[s].” Twitter Heart “Twitter Heart is an electronic sculpture that represents a symbolic mainframe for the social network Twitter. Composed of twelve individual square sections, the largest frame is 18 inches tall, with each frame successively smaller. Each section frames a set of latex ribbons stretched taut between the edges, and two motors that move the latex. The sculpture is wirelessly connected to a computer, where computer code searches Twitter for the keyword “heart.” The Twitter search is repeated on a loop every second, as long as the Twitter search finds the word “heart” the Twitter Heart continues to beat.”
Nowhere are the connections, or sometimes the lack of them, more evident than online. Twitter’s particular call-and-response format means that people put their opinions out there and hoping others will value it enough to read it, respond, or relay it to their network of connections. On the positive side, this web of interaction connects those that might never have met face-to-face. On the negative side, reviewing and opining and re-tweeting such a volume of information can take over your life. Enter Jessica Tankersley. She was one of those users that spent hours online, as she says, “Besides this being a very time consuming
(right) Jessica Tankersley, Norman, Twitter Heart Prototype, Electronic sculpture with wood, latex, string and electronic components, 8.5” x 11” x 8.5”
endeavor, I began over time to see just how phony it all was. I had developed an online persona that represented the very “best” version of myself. I did this by making sure only the best photos, funniest punch lines, and most interesting items were posted. Here I was, spending all this time managing an online identity that didn’t even represent reality.” So she decided to take a three month “sabbatical” from her online life in order to disconnect from the negative effects and reconnect with her real world friends. During that time, she found that some of her relationships changed drastically (and not always for the better). For Momentum Spotlight, she is creating the electronic sculpture whose latex ribbons and motors will create a “beat” when the computer detects the word “heart” on Twitter. She chose this structure because “The heart is a vital organ, and recently social networks have evolved into the vital framework of our daily lives. When our heart stops beating we die, when our social networking ceases we tend to feel a sense of loss, confusion, and displacement.” Momentum Tulsa will open October 8, 2011 at Living Arts, 307 E. Brady, Tulsa, from 8 pm – Midnight. The exhibition features Oklahoma artists ages 30 and younger working in all media. These three artists were selected from a call for proposals to receive an honorarium and several months of curatorial guidance in preparation for the exhibition. For more information, visit www.MomentumOklahoma.org.
n
Elizabeth Downing is not an art critic, but a photographer of the urban landscape and a technical writer who lives in Tulsa. She can be reached at beth@bethdowning.com.
p re v i e w
17