Palimpsest
A performance installation converting conversations into pieces of thread.
[2023]
What would it look like if conversations had a physical form? Palimpsest turns spoken exchanges about the meaning of life into tangible sculptures made of thread. Participants have a conversation with me about life and its infinite complexities, and the installation translates their words into something you can see and touch.
Each participant is prompted with fundamental questions. What gives life meaning? What are we afraid of? As they respond, their words are encoded and transformed into a growing spatial installation, each conversation adding a new layer of thread to the structure.
The System
Each conversation is converted into a vector representation by the machine. This abstract point in latent space is mapped onto physical coordinates within a metal cube, determining where and how the thread is placed. The name comes from a palimpsest, a manuscript written over without erasing what came before. Each new conversation layers onto the last.
Six colors of thread are held in a custom 3D-printed spool mechanism. The color and length of each strand encode the intensity and emotion of what was said, making the invisible weight of words tangible. A custom PCB controls the motors that feed thread from the spools.
This video shows the spool mechanism at work. It first rotates to select a color based on the conversation's emotional signature, then unwinds a measured length of thread. Once the thread is dispensed, it is cut by hand and tied into position within the cube.
First Performance
The first performance was held at Parsons. Over three hours, participants sat with me at a desk with a microphone and engaged in one on one conversation while the system analyzed their words in real time. Each response generated coordinates and a color, guiding the placement of a new thread within the frame.
Second Performance
The second performance took place at Grace Exhibition Space. The same system and conversation model were used in a new architectural context, with the installation filling the space over the course of the evening. This time, the audience member was invited into the cube with me and the conversation was more intimate, allowing for users to share their thoughts, with the knowledge that what they speak will never leave that cube.
