ISEA 2006 — $.25 a minute

I found a F-dEx/K-nk-s where I can access the internet for 25 cents a minute. I can also use M-cros-ft Office. Even at today’s prices, that is more expensive than gasoline (unless you are going a steady 60mph in an SUV with 12mpg).
Late in the afternoon I spent about an hour at the San Jose Museum of Art. On the ground floor is a retrospecive of light-based works by Jennifer Steinkamp. It had been a few years since I last saw one of her installations, so it was nice to see some of the work I had missed. However with so many pieces it is hard to spend time contemplating each one individually.

Upstairs at the museum is “Edge Conditions”. The centerpiece of this exhibition is Listening Post by Mark Hansen and Ben Rubin. It is a technically impressive piece; a grid of 21×11 lcd displays hangs in the air, and the displays shift through five “movements”, displaying information based on statistical analysis of internet traffic. For such an impressive assembly, the work itself was ultimately just something to look at, there isn’t much to think about here, or any real irony.
The rest of “Edge Conditions” was muddled in the way that only a show at a large museum can be. The website tells you what it’s all about: “…explore the boundaries between human and machine, between intelligence and processing and between speech and language. New geographies of data, virtuality, and the imagination will be explored[.]” There is even a huge disclaimer at the entrance to the gallery, stating that this exhibit is not supposed to be cutting edge.
Well I’ve got to run to the morning session. So far this entry has cost me $10.50.