Back to the Drawing Board

Jake Kassen, Mac Pierce, and Philip Knodle

Back to the Drawing Board is an interactive kinetic sculpture that translates the nature of public discourse into an object. The piece invites the public to write or draw on a transparent medium that works its way through a series of rollers to a stack of lenses akin to an overhead projector. The transparency is illuminated and projected through the projector like lenses. The image projected is expanded to an architectural scale, where the messages thereby enlarged then pan across a projection surface. Over the span of the interaction all points on the transparency cycle through the interaction area multiple times, inviting participants to revise and comment on messages left by those before them. Back to the Drawing Board reflects the colorful and discordant ways we interact when given a public forum, while acting as a forum itself.

Jake Kassen has worked in broadcasting and theatrical lighting for the past 20 years with a focus on specialty set design and construction. He is the Chief Engineer at Boston University's College of Communication.

website: jkassen.org/wordypress/

Mac Pierce works at the intersection of art and technology. His work utilizes the tools of motion and interactivity to translate complex messages to dynamic experiences. He spends his days as a Creative Technologist at Design Communications Ltd. and his nights at the Artisans Asylum, where he maintains a studio practice.

website: macpierce.com, IG: instagram.com/transistor_resistor/

Philip Knodle is an emerging artist based at the Artisans Asylum in Somerville. He makes public installations based on music and light.

website: pknodle.net/author/philip-knodle.html, IG: instagram.com/pknodle/