Simultaneously, we realize that our lifestyles are unsustainable, unhealthy, and unethical. Industrialized food systems are a prime example: we abuse animals, exploit people, pollute the earth, and destroy our bodies as we eat. Food is a site of contention and revolution. Food is also one of our strongest links to the natural world, and the oldest site of social gathering – thus a wonderful vehicle for discussion.

To explore these issues and engage others in discourse I am developing a system for sourcing, creating, and distributing human cheese.

Human cheese offers a unique entry into these issues. Humans are the only animals to harvest and consume other species\’ milk. This milk is neither created for human digestion, nor particularly healthy for human consumption, nor always kind to the animals we harvest and milk. Cheese is one of the oldest bio-technologies. It was also, in 1990, the first genetically modified food product to be approved for sale by the US Food and Drug Administration.

Disturbing visions of the future (or the present) may be abstracted, rationalized, swept aside. By serving human cheese, I ask people to make a decision: to eat, or not to eat. Facing the decision to ingest materializes the technological and ethical issues at hand, going beyond our rational senses to appeal to our visceral and instinctual humanness.

In doing so, I hope to engage discourse about what we eat, who we are (evolving to be), and what kind of future we want. In serving human cheese, I pose a number of questions:

As we navigate the complex landscape of technologically modified food production, how do we understand what is natural, healthy, ethical? If we reject all technologically modified food in favor of what is \’natural,\’ how far back to do we go? If we are to welcome new technologies into our lives, how will we continue to redefine what is natural, normal and healthy? How will this change our relationship to each other, the natural world and ourselves? If we are determined to continue to enjoy our cheese, perhaps it is most natural, ethical and healthy to eat human cheese? And if not, what other biotechnological processes does this force us to reconsider?

A visitor simply touches whichever jars they wish, seeing these jars light up and hearing the corresponding notes play, they will then see (in the visualization) REMI choose which notes it wants to play in response, these notes will then sound and light up as well.

Users are instructed to perform a simple circular movement on separate plates. Hands in sync trigger a digital visual queue and sounds of harmonious Himalayan singing bowls. (A real bowl is played by applying pressure on its rim in a continuous circular motion with a wooden stick.)

Synchronic is also a new platform which can be further developed to incorporate more users and more intricate syncing challenges.

ByteLite is an installation representing an individual LCD pixel, and the bit data that defines the color of the pixel. The pixel is represented as three tube lights: one red, one blue, and one green that are housed within a box protruding from a wall. Beneath the box is a row of 24 switches, each switch representing one bit of information about the pixel. The first 8 switches allow for a range of 0-255 for the red light, the next 8 for the green light, and the final eight for the blue light.

ByteLite aims to be an immersive interactive experience for the user that is engaging, intuitive and pleasant to interact with. It also aims to get the user to wonder about the nature of computers.