Kelly Heaton
Reflection Loop (detail), 2001, mixed media
The human genome has been mapped and made available for "prototype applications." Soon, parents will use this information to custom-order future generations according to the patented jurisdiction of safe evolution. Human abnormality, freakishness and eccentricity will no longer be an act of God. Meanwhile, society maintains an ethical distinction between biological and machine intelligence. To date, "artificial" intelligence is an unregulated commodity. Does this absence of regulation indicate that some forms of information are morally superior to others? Where do we draw the line between what is real and what is artificial?
Reflection Loop dissects Furby™ and uses its parts to engender new forms. Subjected to mind control, sensory manipulation, and plastic surgery, the Furby is made to assume various new identities: molecule, pixel, specimen, and freak. This process of creation, through reverse engineering, questions the identity of the Furby's maker and challenges our ethics in the Information Age.
™ "Furby" is a trademark of Tiger Electronics Ltd. and is used without permission. Reflection Loop has no official relationship with Tiger Electronics.
—Kelly Heaton
The art of Kelly Heaton exists in that place where obsession, engineering and popular culture come together. Heaton has taken a popular electronic children's toy, a Furby™, and viewed it as a painter might look at a blank canvas, or a scientist upon a new species. For her installation, Reflection Loop, Heaton has literally deconstructed a number of these animated toys and re-engineered them into a series of humorous and frightening artworks.
The Pool is the largest. Four hundred Furbies were taken apart and wired together to create an electronic reflecting pool. Noting that each toy's eyes and mouth, comprised of three spheres, could be likened to two hydrogen and one oxygen molecule, Heaton arranged them in a grid, emulating the molecular composition of water (H2O). When viewers get within range of infrared sensors built into the structure, the Furby faces are stimulated into movement. The Pool will only animate if viewers are near; otherwise, it remains static.
The Anatomical Diagrams look like hand drawn 19th century medical illustrations. With obsessive accuracy, Heaton has chosen to dissect a Furby, as if it were a new species, and draw the results.
In the Special Limited Edition Series, Furbies have been modified to replicate human medical conditions. They have been rewired and reconstructed to emulate autistic behavior or Siamese Twins, conditions that arise in the biological development of living organisms. Heaton is asking us to reflect on the idea that artificial organisms might have the same aberrations.
—George Fifield
Curator of Media Arts
Please join the artist for an informal gallery talk on Saturday, July 7 at 3pm.
