Usually, in the tradition of Norm White, there is no attempt made to conceal any of the technology in my work. Here, it is deliberately obfuscated. The audience is only made aware that some strange production is going on behind a translucent screen by dint of shadowplay and occasional squawks, hisses and buzzing from two loudspeakers.

This installation, which is about different kinds of shadows, was inspired by a rainy night drive down an Alberta highway. When searching for an interesting radio program on AM radio, I stopped twisting the dial when I had to use both hands to make a sudden lane change. With the tuner accidentally stuck between stations, I heard interestingly peculiar noises that were definitely unrelated to any intentional radio broadcast. After a while I figured out that a swooshing sound was associated with my windshield wipers, a kind of zooming sound with the accelerator, clicks with the highbeams going on and off and so on.

Here is what is actually going on behind the screen: a fishing rod like device, assembled from scrap aluminum and various salvaged stepper motors, and under microcontroller control, roves around a small space, lowering its detector (a modified AM radio) towards various common household objects (blender, television, lamp etc.) in an attempt to hear and amplify the electromagnetic shadows these devices are constantly emitting. It does so slowly and in a particular sequence. The whole performance takes about 13 minutes, then repeats.

Lighting is also controlled, creating long shadows and periods of darkness. It ends up, as shadows do, making ordinary things appear sinister and mysterious. This kind of comes out my own creepy feelings about how we are constantly bathing in this stuff (electromagnetic radiation) without a lot of real, solid knowledge about what it might actually be doing to us.