Our American Cousin (2013) Custom Software

"This piece is a software adaptation of the stage play Our American Cousin. It theatrically mixes historical and procedural narratives with viewer interaction and synthesized sound. The work borrows its narrative from the stage play ‘Our American Cousin’ as well as related histories surrounding Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. Electronic voices, performed via computer text-to-speech output, complement active geometric forms produced by the software. A computer that performs the piece continuously offers viewers the potential to disrupt the virtual theater by simply moving in front of a webcam. When disrupted, the text-to-speech ‘actors’ pause performance, while pixel versions of John Wilkes Booth and Abraham Lincoln spew from the geometries. After being interrupted for a period of time the computer begins to glitch. When movement in front of the webcam ceases, the software resumes the play from where it left off."