Laurel Beckman
2021Fountain (Money)
Laurel Beckman
Part of a series of works that use historically noted tools of rebellion as foils to look at affect in relation to resistance, property, space, waste, attention, and currency. A fountain that doubles as a distressed wishing well and a murky pond with active life feature in the non-linear tale of hope and expectation.
Fountain (Money)
Moon (for Alan)
Laurel Beckman
"Moon (for Alan)" is an abstract tribute to Alan Turing (1912 -1954), British mathematician, computer scientist, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and gay icon. A pioneer of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence(A.I.), Turing was instrumental in breaking the German Enigma code, an elliptical language-basedencoder (in-out, out-in, repeat). In 1950 he outlined an ‘imitation game’,comparing human and machine outputs, now called the Turing Test. Later in life he turned to the understanding, through computing, ofbiological patterns in nature, followed by his criminal conviction of homosexuality (with court mandated chemical castration and eventual suicide). As played out through A.I. and machine learning, the ongoing negotiation of what it means to be humanhighlightsdesire and will as precarious tethers to humans frommachines on all spectrums.
Moon (for Alan)
