Where Do We Go, 2023
3 CRT TVs, Atari 2600 consoles, custom cartridges, Plexiglass furniture
31" x 59.5" x 34.5"
The work is comprised of CRT TVs with transparent cases connected to 3 Atari 2600 game consoles (circa 1977). Each game device holds a transparent cartridge programmed with a different sentence. Together, they form the phrase “Where do we go / when we stay / in the same place?”
All the devices are on two wide clear pedestals, providing a sense of transparency and visibility. Viewers are invited to walk around the piece and reflect on the observable analog technology. The clear case TVs–which allow people to see the inside components–were produced and sold to jails in order to prevent smuggling between convicts. They all belonged to prison inmates, augmenting the presence and intention of the blinking existential text.
“Where do we go when we stay in the same place?” is a question that has been haunting me for years, at least since 2003 when I used it as the opening line of a poem. As an immigrant who has been living in exile for decades, the question became a koan with no clear answer.