Nostalgia for a distant body

 
Photo by Marc Losier

Jim Bell’s Nostomania uses footage of the asteroid Eros captured by NASA and projects it onto a scroll from an old player piano.

Bursts of light from the projection shoot through the scroll’s notations and trigger photocells set up behind the rotating mechanism. An oscillator programmed with the cells produces various sounds determined only by the length and intensity of the light able to penetrate the scroll.

“The title of my piece is rooted in the word nostos, which means nostalgia or homesickness,” said Bell, a first-year student. “This asteroid circles our planet every seven years.”

His piece was part of Computation, an exhibition by Design and Computation Arts students, which was on view from May 3 to 9 at the CDP Capital Centre in downtown Montreal.

Dress for the Botox generation

 
Photo by Marc Losier

Design students Alicia Barrett, Madeleine Beaulieu and Farah Shami make a strong case against plastic surgery.

Their piece, Surgery Dress, was made with latex gloves and sewn together with dental floss. Each fingertip contains a different message, such as “I’m not made for the runway,” or “Plastic surgery = not for me.”

In their group statement, the trio said, “The aim of the product is to question body alteration by means of plastic surgery.” Surgery Dress was on display May 3 to 9 at the CDP Capital Centre as part of theDesign and Computation Arts graduate exhibition Designed.