date> 2004

medium> SMS text messages downloaded from mobile phone, translated to Morse Code, and re-broadcast via flashing light

dimensions> variable

credits> Computer programming by Greg Langille.

description> Relay is a subtle intervention that combines the lonely image of a flashing navigation beacon, city electrical systems, and the invisible communications networks that surround us. A utilitarian light fixture (installed in one of a number of possible configurations) enigmatically flashes – in Morse code – short text messages (SMS) received on a designated mobile phone number. These intangible thoughts, translated into fleeting pulses, become physical embodiments of the currents of hope, loss and longing embedded in communication across distances. Locally, the light may also begin to operate as a sort of bulletin board conveying news from near and far and providing opportunities for sociability and local messaging in the immediate area and across the city. The beacon merges early technologies for communication and navigation with some of the more contemporary methods by which information and desire flow today.

exhibitions> Liverpool Biennial 2004; SF Camerawork 2004, BALTIC 2005, InterAccess 2006, Lancaster 2006