Origination Point, the interactive projection installation, was part of the collective exhibit “Entre, Dentro, Fuera/Between, Inside, Outside” at the 12th Havana Biennial in Havana Cuba. The concept began to brew in December after I received the invitation from curator, Dannys Montes de Oca. I decided on the series I was currently exploring called Projecting Particles that involved doing a 2-week research stay at CERN in Geneva Switzerland. The question I was exploring in the residency was how can these understandings of space and the origins of matter transform the way we perceive the world around us and more specifically, as artists how we visualize and create. As the concept evolved so did the collaboration of individuals that came together to design and realize the installation for the inauguration on May 22, 2015 at the Pabellon Cuba. Visual artist and coder, Marcel Schwittlick, who designed the generative code, sound designer, Robert Schirmer who engineered fantastical sounds for the interactive rocks, and my graduate student assistants from the University of New Mexico Fine Arts Department, Abbey Hepner, Julianne Aguilar and Adrian Pijoan, with Cristine Posner taking the lead. They were magicians when it came to installing the piece on site in Cuba. Thanks to all of you!

The piece is a projection of self-generating “rocks” (a visual metaphor for the particle nature of matter)  transformed through
mesmerizing movements in rhythm with an interactive soundtrack (representing the wave nature of matter). Audio was created with sounds recorded by NASA from outer space and with real nature sounds. To interact with the piece, participants move the three “rocks” in and out of the circle on the floor, adding layers of sound designed to shift your perception of and emotional response to the visuals.

In response to the theme of the exhibit, Entre, Dentro, Fuera/Between, Inside, Outside”,  I contemplate both my origins as a Cuban American and humanity’s shared ‘subatomic’ origins to express that we are more than the physical bodies and socio-cultural identities we construct.