by

Jill Scott

MachineDreams (1991) uses video to trigger zones of individual sound samples. It is an interactive installation in which the reaction of the participant to the visual component of the space produces a soundscape. The visual component refers to visions of technological utopia, demonstrated by four modified machines taken from the lives of four women in history. These machines are a sewing machine (1900), a typewriter (1940), a mixmaster (1960), and a telephone switchboard (1990). Four graphics images, displayed on a wall, connect the technology on display and the human body. The sound composition reflects the utopian dreams of each era and the technology itself. The sound of MachineDreams was sponsored by Perceptive Systems, Melbourne, Australia, and was created on the Silicon Graphics 4D80GT and proprietary software. IBM PC with Lumena by Time Arts and Michelangelo V4 computerized spray printer. ________ Originally published in the Words on Works section of Leonardo