[ mixed-media installation ]
Designed to simulate a masturbatory reflection on virtual conversation and corporal space, Lap questions the role of information technology to the body and as a means of communication. The title refers to the creation of a ‘lap’ by the chair, the customization of a computer for a ‘lap’, as well as the notion of ‘lapping up’ or ‘lapse’. Existing in a pre-morphed state, the chair has been modified to accommodate the insertion/erection of the laptop; its seat compacted to scale, the legs slightly crippled. Too small to sit on and too feeble to stand alone, the chair becomes the performing element in the space, replacing the absent body. 1996.
“Just as intelligence is spreading everywhere, leaking out of our brains and spilling into our homes, our tools, our vehicles, so too is connectivity. We are about to see the environment as a whole come online–a global networking of places, products, ideas, with the Internet as a kind of hypercortex. Increasingly, artists like Jessica Irish seek to link their installations and electronic sculptures inextricably with the World Wide Web.”
– Roy Ascott, Techno-Seduction Catalog
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Exhibited at:
Beall Art Center Gallery, Irvine, CA
Circulo de Bellas Artes, Madrid, Spain
Artemesia Gallery, Chicago, IL
School of Visual Arts Gallery, NY
