Swimming With a Kite is an immersive, site-specific installation and one night only event created through a collaboration by Silvia Malagrino, Joshua Albers and jesus duran.

Using video projections, light design and responsive computer programming the artists transform the Franklin into a responsive environment inviting exploration, reflection and play. My specific contribution to the installation is the use of Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and Phillips Hue LED lights to create a dynamic, reactive environment inside the Franklin pavilion.

The project was inspired by Audre Lorde’s essay Poetry is not a Luxury, and the markings left by an anonymous reader on a book by Carl Jung about the transformation of the self and society. The book was found in a second-hand bookstore in Chicago. Inside the book there are intricate markings, handwritten notes and drawings. On each page someone – an anonymous reader – inscribed her/his own constellation of images and writings, unleashing meanings and tracing a territory of thoughts comparable to visual poetry.

Based on the experience and content of this particular book, the artists explore a trinity of concerns: language, image, and technology in a backyard.

Swimming With a Kite was exhibited at The Franklin in Chicago, Illinois, USA, on August 3rd (one night event).