Can't Hear the Music- by Chris Basmajian

"Alphaville" is a French film that was produced during the 1980s. The plot takes place in the twentieth century, in which a town known as Alphaville is being fully controlled by a super computer named Alpha 60. Under Alpha 60's laws, freedom of speech is prohibited, both vocally and artistically, and so the townspeople are forced to live rather limited lives.

Chris Basmajian's "Can't Hear the Music" is a project, which has been based off of this film. The ingredients for this project includes one active lightbulb dangling from the ceiling, one display screen, and one volunteer. The volunteer will stand in front of the light bulb while watching a scene from "Alphaville" via the display. As he or she watches the display, he or she will tamper with the light bulb, swinging it like a pendulum. As the bulb swings side to side, it will create reflections on the display--and literally within those reflections, he or she will catch sight of two more scenes based off of the "Alphaville" movie.

The light bulb has a really interesting effect on the display because it is as if though the second and third excerpts of "Alphaville" are literally projecting from the light bulb itself. When swinging the light bulb, those excerpts literally tear and rip into the first one, but then cleanly disappear as the light bulb's reflections wear off on the display. The room that this interactive artwork takes place in is dimly lit, by the light bulb alone, I assume, which evokes a very frightening feel, especially because I imagine that the movie itself is not a very happy one.

However, on the other hand, the optical illusion that the light bulb provides is very charming and intriguing to the eyes. I could tell that some sort of software was involved in the creation of this project, and I wonder exactly what softwares that the artist used.