I Want To

Laewoo Kang

An army of custom designed wooden toys respond to repurposed Twitter feeds, exploring desires and hopes as unconscious internalizations of self-discipline.

http://laewoo.com/iwantto/



‘I WANT TO’ is an installation that is controlled by Twitter messages. An army of custom designed wooden toys, a television screen and speakers comprise the work. Custom software extracts live Twitter messages which start with ‘I want to’. The words ‘Want to...’ become ‘Have to...’, and the full sentence is displayed on the television screen while also being sonified through speakers. With each “I have to” phrase, the wooden toys respond by marching in unison. Inspired by Michel Foucault’s ideas from Discipline and Punishment and George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, this work explores our hopes and desires as unconscious internalization of external expectations and social norms.