Lovelace's Tribute

2018, cabinet, electronics, computer, headphones, 20" x 34" x 28"


This collaborative project with Gregory Kramer was done in ODETTA gallery as part of Creative Tech Week.


This installation is in honor of Ada Lovelace, generally recognized as the first computer programmer. Lovelace was the daughter of famed poet Lord Byron and had a deep fondness for him and his work.
Each drawer of the installation, when opened, sings part of a famous poem by Lord Byron, and corresponds to an ascending Solfege scale. The drawers of the cabinet will function as simple binary on/off switches mimicking the basic binary function of computer code. The participant can try to figure out the correct order the drawers need to be pulled out so the poem is recited correctly.
Ada Lovelace understood the potential of technology as a creative tool as evidenced by the following quote:
"Supposing, for instance, that the fundamental relations of pitched sounds in the science of harmony and musical composition were susceptible of such expression and adaptations, the engine might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent."