PFv7 Interactive Research Installation Collects Chicagoers' Data on Floppy Disks for Wonders Perform

"These first photos are of PFv7 at night, this dramatic lighting diminishes the presence of the reclaimed walkers, crutches, and commodes which serve as the structure and support for the spiral and interfaces.here we are approaching the Gallery 400 from the front door of the building. the installation is fractal spiral shaped. the lights that flash are four colors which correspond to the 4 prompts - one at each of the 4 data collection interfaces.but before we get to those data collections interfaces, we will peek around the iWonder - Pastel Fractal's Mobile Performance Apparatus which is a transforming bike trailer with many wonderfully obsolete machines including 4 floppy-disk MIDI-karaoke sequencers that each play 1 composition that corresponds to the data sets from the 4 interfaces.
now, we move to the 1st interface which is a silver marker to write on an uncased floppy disk. participants are prompted by step-by-step instructions written on a piece of paper hanging at eye level: "Write a restriction of yours as a Chicagoan." Once participants have written on the disks, they are to drop it into a chute that is made from a steel stud. The disk will slide down the chute to the other side of the installation where the data will be "processed" and combined with the RAGE composition during my live on site performance. pictured here are some disks that were submitted by participants.
now, we move around to the next interface which is a 25-year-old word processor machine with a native floppy disk storage drive. Participants are prompted to "Type out the words to a song about accessibility as a Chicagoan." After nice long sequence of buttons required to save the data to a disk, participants are to drop the disk into another chute down which the disk will slide to the other side of the installation to be combined with the SING composition during my live on site performance.
now, on to the third interface which is a 15-year-old notebook computer that extends out further from the center of the spiral. this machine also has a native floppy drive and participants are prompted to "State a mission of yours as a Chicagoan." using the NotePad application, and then to save their data to disk. Disks slide through another chute to the other side where the mission-statement data is combined with the STATE composition during my live on site performance. In these photos, some of the data can be read from the screen of the Roland DisCover 5 machine which is one tool used to sequence the mission statements saved on floppy disks into karaoke lyrics.
now, on to the 4th and final interface which is a 4-year-old tablet computer which extends way out from the center on an adjustable branch. (all interface branches are adjustable actually.) here, participants are prompted to "Promote a mission of yours as a Chicagoan." They can use any app on the tablet to do this and on the other side of the installation where their disks drop out of the chute, there is a seashell covered karaoke machine that has the screen of the tablet mirrored on to it. This data is combined with the PROMOTE composition during Pastel Fractal's performance of wonders with the mission statements of Chicagoans."
-Pastel Fractal