All is Now, 2015
audiovisual installation at ALSCO textile service building, 5 West 4th Avenue, Vancouver
This mysterious fur vault of a commercial laundry facility has not been used for a very long period of time and was never open to the public, but has been kept as-is since the last day of its service in early 1980s. With the support of ALSCO textile service, and ISEA2015, the space was transformed into an intimate site-specific audiovisual installation by Khan Lee, with an eight-channel original soundtrack composed in collaboration with Andrew Yong Hoon Lee of Holy Hum. Roaming audiences in the space experienced different mixes of the soundtrack based on their distance from these eight source of sound.
40 units of simple analog motion control circuits (PID) with focusable coloured LED spotlights at different intervals detected the movements of each audience member, and illuminate the space, mixing shadows of existing structures. The audience’s reaction to the audio composition translates to the light cast pattern. With no audience in the space, all eventually turns back to complete darkness. Using simple technology from the 60s, this installation focuses more on content and expression of interactivity, and suggests a new way of looking at interactive art as a whole.
Improvised from the key note of the dry cleaning machine on-site (out of service but still fully operational), each component of the soundtrack plays from various types and vintages of amps and speakers to celebrate moments from the past with the voices of many current local musicians.