Taylor Levy at The Leonardo
As we get closer to opening our doors, more of the installation and art pieces we've been dreaming up or hunting down are materializing. One piece came into our possession and has made for lots of entertainment with its built-in fluorescent light show.
The piece, 8 Light ASCII Display Terminal Terminal, is the simplest display possible says artist and creator Taylor Levy. Levy, a Canadian artist based in New York, often creates pieces that are technology turned inside out. This sculpture is eight fluorescent lights mounted on an acrylic base with a keyboard connected by USB. When keys are pressed, the bulbs light in various patterns, each reflecting the character's specific ASCII as shown in binary code.
The piece, 8 Light ASCII Display Terminal Terminal, is the simplest display possible says artist and creator Taylor Levy. Levy, a Canadian artist based in New York, often creates pieces that are technology turned inside out. This sculpture is eight fluorescent lights mounted on an acrylic base with a keyboard connected by USB. When keys are pressed, the bulbs light in various patterns, each reflecting the character's specific ASCII as shown in binary code.
Each letter and character we use to communicate on our computers and see in ASCII has a binary counterpart consisting of ones and zeroes. The system is much like Morse Code because it's a language of two—dots and dashes in Morse Code and ones and zeroes in binary. This pattern is reflected in the fluorescent lights by illuminating the bulbs that match the character's code. For example, the binary code for the letter 'b' is 01100010. When 'b' is pressed on the keyboard, the bulbs reflecting zeroes will stay unlit and the ones will turn on:
This piece is the perfect marriage of technology and art. How often do we type without even realizing the coding and translation that are going on inside the computer? Levy's piece is perfect for The Leo because it takes this subtle—yet extremely important—technology and presents it in a beautiful way. We can't wait to see how visitors react when they are able to interact with this piece. What will you type when you get the chance? Let us know in the comments! (Better yet, leave us a message in binary.)