Rebecca Kerlin
Signing Piece/ Utopia Breakdown
2011 - 2012
Components, 2011 - 2012: Rice paper scroll, ink, pens, table, interaction, interaction traces.
Components, 2012: Interaction-modified rice paper scroll, mylar, vinyl, binder clips, spreadsheet paper with vinyl and pencil, inkjet photographs, polymer filament, tension hooks, oil crayon.
Dimensions vary.

The interactive installation Signing Piece took place in Oakland, California over three days in December 2011 and January 2012. The interaction was designed to provoke mnemonic reaction in a contextual framework that presented contemporary political concerns about the direction of U.S. Government policy in light of cultural values and mythologies attached to the Signing of the Declaration of Independence and related founding-texts and the debate over the merits and dangers of the National Defense Authorization Act which was then taking place in Congress and in public fora.

The investigative installation Signing Piece/ Utopia Breakdown was exhibited in the same location in Spring 2012. Lines of inquiry such as innocence, utopian idealism and failure, civic engagement and the breakdown of communication in dialogues of multiplicity, and the feasibility or difficulty of mapping historical trajectories after the fact, coalesced into a multi-faceted consideration of the word "breakdown" as it is used in reference to systems under stress and as it is used in metrical analysis. The analysis design is structurally attuned to the behavioral inference analysis techniques used in the Internet/New Media industry.

Signing Piece, Installation View, Day 1

Signing Piece, installation view, day 1




Signing Piece, Installation View, Day 1, Scroll Detail

Signing Piece, installation view, day 1, scroll detail




Signing Piece, Installation View, Day 1, In Progress

Signing Piece, installation view, day 1, interaction view




Signing Piece, Scroll, End of Day 3

Signing Piece, Scroll, End of Day 3, interaction view




Signing Piece/ Utopia Breakdown Installation, East View

Signing Piece/ Utopia Breakdown Installation, looking East




Signing Piece/ Utopia Breakdown Installation, West View

Signing Piece/ Utopia Breakdown Installation, looking West




Signing Piece/ Utopia Breakdown Installation, Scroll

Signing Piece/ Utopia Breakdown Installation, Scroll




Signing Piece/ Utopia Breakdown Chart Detail

Signing Piece/ Utopia Breakdown Installation, Chart Detail