Agonism Machine (I Ching Abridged and Updated) is a media-enabled sculpture roughly set in the formation of political representatives at a congressional hearing. A program (written in processing) is displayed across three large plasma monitors. The monitors bear six real, yet not altogether recognizable, figures from the United States House of Representatives. They are adorned with the ubiquitous graphics of C-SPAN. Within the program lies 64 hexagrams and 64 divinations associated with each. The hexagrams and not formed of lines, but by the mouths of the figures. The 64 divinations are not the divinations of the I Ching, but a contemporary rewrite of the entire text crafted by my collaborator Adrian Vigliano. The viewer is encouraged to meditate on a question. When a viewer approaches the work, this oracle of six figures is activated. The oracle then dispenses the hexagram, the divination as well as visual and aural feedback, whether or not the viewer is expecting it. [ more information ]

AD 597 - Master's Project, Prof. Jennifer Reeder

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