Rodney Glick (In collaboration with Rabbi Moshe Bernstein and Chris McCormick)
Master of Prayer
Overview
2008
Variable dimensions
10 networked computers and associated technologies
In the Jewish othordox tradition the full prayer service can be performed only in a quorum of ten adult males known in Hebrew as a minyan. The main part of the service, which occurs three times daily, is the Shmona Esrei, or Eighteen Benedictions. These blessings are first recited silently by the entire congregation. Afterwards, during the morning and afternoon liturgies, they are repeated aloud by the cantor, often referred to as the Ba al Tefillah or Master of Prayer. In orthodox Judaism any male, whether layman or cleric, over the age of thirteen can lead the prayers. During the repetition of the Shmona Esrei, also called the Amidah, or standing prayer, the congregation answers responsively to each of the benedictions recited.
In this installation each computer has been individually programmed to respond to the blessings recited by the main computer, the Master of Prayer, leading the afternoon Mincha service. The computers are saying these blessings in real time and have not been programmed using wave files nothing is prerecorded. The service has been phonetically transliterated from Hebrew into English so each computer reads English but prays aloud in Hebrew. Though the installation appears to parody the human condition of prayer by rote, on a deeper level it asks a haunting question about the inherent nature of artificial intelligence. The Jewish sages require kavannah, or proper intent for prayer to be truly acceptable. To the extent that computers can be programmed to think, might they not be programmed to this proper intent as well. In a tentative answer to that question, Master of Prayer can be experienced as a high-tech, Jewish version of the Tibetan prayer-wheel or Christian rosary beads.
Glick & Voevodin
EARTHQUAKE
1999- 2001
Dual synchronised DVD projection
160 x 800cm
60minutes duration
Edition of 3
The 24Hr Panoramas compress digital video but don't truncate time. They
present the landscape in what could be called 'durational time'. Each
projection has 24 individual vertical bands or segments, filmed from
individual, mostly stationary, camera positions, with each band documenting
one hour of a day. The frame-by-frame linear structure is never static:
movement occurs as shifting detail within each of the 24 vertical bands. The
24Hr Panoramas operate like large moving landscapes, vast panoramas in which
the entire day can be viewed in a mere 60 minutes. Through the manipulation
of time, space and scale, the panoramas place each viewer in control of the
experience to construct their own narrative, determined by the decisions
each necessarily makes when processing 24 streams of video and 24 tracks of
sound. Each viewing of individual panoramas is much like the experience of a
given day: unique and unrepeatable.
Glick & Voevodin
Rice
2008 - 2009
Dual synchronised DVD projection
160 x 800cm
60minutes duration
Edition 3
The 24Hr Panoramas compress digital video but don't truncate time. They
present the landscape in what could be called 'durational time'. Each
projection has 24 individual vertical bands or segments, filmed from
individual, mostly stationary, camera positions, with each band documenting
one hour of a day. The frame-by-frame linear structure is never static:
movement occurs as shifting detail within each of the 24 vertical bands. The
24Hr Panoramas operate like large moving landscapes, vast panoramas in which
the entire day can be viewed in a mere 60 minutes. Through the manipulation
of time, space and scale, the panoramas place each viewer in control of the
experience to construct their own narrative, determined by the decisions
each necessarily makes when processing 24 streams of video and 24 tracks of
sound. Each viewing of individual panoramas is much like the experience of a
given day: unique and unrepeatable.
