About EQuinox '90-2000

EQuinox ‘90-2000 began on the vernal equinox March 1990 and collected Messages in the context of electronic sculpture installations at various international sites. EQuinox ‘90-2000 invited the participant to think about the coming Century and Millennium and send a Message about the future. The completion of Message gathering occurred during the autumnal equinox September 1999 at A.R.T., Art Resources Transfer, NYC. The following March 2000, All Messages were exhibited together for the first time at A.R.T., NYC.

This piece was prescient in its early understanding of future human interaction with network communications. This gathering of Messages over the 10-year span has traced the introduction of fax, e-mail, and the web as new communication devices. The gathering of Messages over the decade has traced the introduction of fax, e-mail, and the Web as public communication mediums. The World Wide Web has validated this early insight.

"EQuinox '90-2000 opens an international line of communication with all people who wish to express their opinion about their hopes for the twenty-first century." Fundacio Pilar i Joan Miro, Mallorca, Spain, 1995

EQuinox '90 was sited at The Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito California, March 3-21, 1990. It was a dawn to dusk day of performances, and events. Turned on by a solar switch at dawn and off at dusk, a laser cut projected animation displayed a recast Icarus myth from a large suspended rotating light sculpture. This Icarus gets up and starts again and again and acted as a metronome throughout the day projecting light images into the installation. The windows projected rainbow colors of sunlight from diffraction gratings and nori sea-weed as it photosynthesized from green to violet. Messages arrived by fax, mail, performances and events throughout the equinox. The exhibition continued for 30 days.

EQuinox '91 was sponsored by CompuServe Telecommunication Network and included a conference administered by a NASA research scientist. This year had no physical site and was located entirely on the electronic mails.

EQuinox '92 was sited at Acme Art Co., Columbus, Ohio as a window installation. Messages were collected by pedestrian traffic, postal mail, and was also featured on electronic mail services.

EQuinox '93 was located at Glasgow School of Art, Scotland, fax and e-mail. Fax messages and computer images were exchanged across the Atlantic between participants in Scotland and the USA.

EQuinox '94 was sited at SPACES Gallery, Cleveland, Ohio as a computer interactive environment of light, sound, and movement. When people entered the piece, motion sensors powered by a computer triggered many unusual lights that rose and fell in intensity accompanied by harmonic sounds as electronic fans blew wooden flutes.

EQuinox '95 was sponsored by the Fundacio Pilar i Joan Miro a Mallorca, Spain. This was a real time multimedia installation with computer interactive digital paintings, light sculpture, and sound. By touching one of 10 color areas representing the years of EQuinox '90-2000, participants saw and heard different animated digital paintings, sounds, and lights. Messages in 5 languages where entered into the digital paintings and projected during the exhibition. Messages where also written and drawn by participants within the installation and attached to the Message wall.

EQuinox '96 was a World Wide Web presentation that was constructed during the year as people sent messages to this web site. It was the first year the Web was somewhat available to the public.

EQuinox '97 was exhibited at the International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA) at the gallery of The School of the Art Institute, Chicago. This site responded to the physical motion of the participants by moving a 16' x 3' painting by Gerald Horn like a conveyer between two rollers. An animation was triggered by a furry key pad. A Web connection allowed participants to send Messages to the EQuinox ‘90-2000 site. This kiosk site included a hologram of a light bulb by Mark Merline that appeared and disappeared in true 3-D.

EQuinox '98 was sited at Darke County Memorial Hall, Greenville, Ohio. A fast T-1 line exhibited sound and video on the Web site for the first time. In the computer active installation, flutes played tones and overtones. Ten Sunset Metaphor paintings and a large moving painting by Gerald Horn were exhibited. Large spinning light bulbs projected shadows on the walls and ceiling. The kiosk included a holographic light bulb by artist Mark Merline.

EQuinox '99 at both A.R.T. Art Resources Transfer, Inc. NYC and Hudson Opera House, Hudson, NY. This was the 10th and concluding year for collecting Messages about the new century. The A.R.T. installation included red oil paintings by Gerald Horn mirroring the red stripe of the building across the street, and a red computer console where virtual paintings, animated collages, and light sculptures appeared in a collaborative HTML piece that used Messages selected from previous years. The HTML mouse-over animation and computer touch screen interface was a collaboration between Susan Dallas-Swann, Gerald Horn, Jamy Sheridan, & Zlata Baum.

EQuinox 2000 was seen in its completed form at the A.R.T. Resources Transfer, NYC gallery. Susan Dallas-Swann, Gerald Horn, Jamy Sheridan, and Zlata Baum constructed a large screen digital projected environmental installation. The participant saw a panoramic landscape as the treasury of Messages unfolded in this CD-ROM presentation. In keeping with the site specific aspect of the previous year's installations, 4 gauche paintings by Gerald Horn depicted the view from the North window of the gallery. Individual Messages were available for viewers to take. Hand printed scrolls and scrims displayed Messages from each year.

Also in 2000, at http://www.mp3.com/eq2000 D.A.M. (Digital Automatic Music) & http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/98/jerry_horn.html the collected, EQuinox '90-2000 "Messages" or predictions regarding the future from 1990 to 2000 can be heard digitally spoken and layered into a sound fabric. Tony Jones digitally rendered this dialogue in surround sound. A monochord assembled and played by Gerald Horn, is a featured instrument on all three EQoes Parts.

1. EQoes - Part One (4:11) EQoes-Part One features Susan Dallas-Swann's digital voice describing her creation of the EQuinox '90-2000 Art/Communication piece with computer-spoken sampling of Messages.

3. EQoes - Part Three (5:46) Messages, monochord, digital instruments in rhythm sound scape w/ random computer-spoken sampling of Messages over high energy electronics and native percussion.