introduction

In this piece, I use my childhood doll as an interface for engaging with text projected on a screen. The text is inspired by the types of behaviors a child attributes to her doll or imaginary friend, such as "It wasn't me! Lala was the one who broke the vase." The doll has a sensor inside of her that can detect position, which I use to control the speed of text filling up the screen.

Many of my digital text pieces use the projected screen as an extension of the page, exploring the possibilities this new medium offers, such as timed animation, layering, three-dimensional imagery, and alternative devices for control (such as the doll + sensor mentioned above, a video game controller, or even text messages from mobile phones). Some of my pieces use sound or cut-up fragments of voice.

I've set up a demo page where you can use your mouse instead of the whole communist doll + sensor combo - give it a try.

You can also read the text by itself.

performances, 2007

• Upcoming: December 5 in Montreal as part of SORTIR DE L'ECRAN/SPOKEN SCREEN, official blurb below:
  
  As part of Sortir de l'écran / Spoken Screen, a series of performances and conferences on hypermedia works, Agence TOPO and NT2 present Aya Karpinska, interaction designer and digital artist. She will perform at La Centrale and give a conference on Thursday, December 6, 2007 at UQAM:

  La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse - December 5, 8 PM
  4296, blvd. Saint-Laurent, Montréal
  T 514 871 0268

  UQAM, Laboratoire NT2 - December 6, 2 PM
  1495, Saint-Denis St, room J-4255, Montréal
  T 514 987 0425

• 12 November, lala made her first Web appearance during Breaking Solitude, hosted by Annie Abrahams and Panoplie.org
• 21 May at Point Éphémère in Paris, France (video above); part of e-Poetry 2007, an international festival of digital poetry
• 21 April at Bowery Poetry Club in New York City, USA; in honor of Leonardo's New Media Poetry issue (where I also have a different piece in the Gallery)

technology + credits

I used open-source code from Jared Tarbell's site as the basis for the text display. After I figured out how to read values from an accelerometer into Flash (thanks Dustin Dupree!), I found a way to control the speed of the text based on the position of the sensor. Simple up-down motion wasn't so exciting, and I hit upon the idea of shaking the doll to "shake" the words out onto the screen - so I needed to capture the rate of change of the sensor's position (thanks Daniel Howe!).

And a final thank you to Carlos J. Gómez de Llarena for shooting the video, Anick Bergeron for digitizing it.