“Where is Your Mind?” is an interactive piece about the places one drifts away into, while in the present moment. The project is a contemplative piece done for my Introduction to Computational Media class as a final project. It is composed of two Processing sketches, projected onto two different screens: the first screen a blurry vision of the present, asking questions about where you might actually be at the moment (using a real-life image from a webcam) and a second screen that takes you to the subconscious, where you find yourself drowned in words that might resemble all the thoughts in your head: your past, your future, your fears, your hopes, happiness’s, your failures.

The inspiration for this project came from within. Ever since I came to ITP, I have been finding myself at places other than the present moment, contemplating. I moved to New York four months ago from Istanbul, where I had been living for the past 10 years. Not only did I leave the city that I had a love affair with, I also left my cat, my jazz collection, my books, my friends and my cigarettes, all the while feeling like I am back in elementary school, out of the Corporate World and into this place called ITP, where everything is brand new. There is a saying in Turkish for it actually - \"like a fish out of the water\". With so many changes going on in my life, I have been questioning a lot of my past and future lately, unable to focus on the present. Every now and then I find myself drifting into other places, my past, my future, my fears, insecurities. It is almost as if I have emotional growing pains. I am so out of my comfort zone and I love it, but it\'s tough love.

In between all these thoughts of existence and getting lost came Hurricane Sandy. Sandy was like the sum of all these emotions that had been mounting within me. During the hurricane I recorded all the noise Sandy had to offer. Nature is such a powerful source, you cannot control it. So are some emotions. They just rise up from nowhere. Hit you like a storm and leave you dazzled, grow you a bit, shrink you a bit too. And you start contemplating.

The music of “Where is Your Mind?” was done by Mehmet Aydin. The music plays a huge role in setting the tone of this interactive piece. The sound waves in both of the sketches move according to the music. The words and sentences of questioning that are in the two sketches are added as voice over. The viola plays the disrupted tone of the piece. On top of that is Hurricane Sandy. Blowing hard and harsh, blowing right through your soul, unknowingly hurting you.
The interactive piece, “Where is Your Mind?” tries to depict that feeling of being lost, of questioning everything fundamental and worthy of our selves, of shaking our core and testing its grounds.