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I was scared to death / I could have died of joy (2000)
     Artist Statement

The spectator enters a darkened room with two stainless steel tables separated by an empty space. The tables are on human scale, from a clean room used for computer chip design or biological engineering. On the tables are objects that appear to be specimens. Two half brains made of glass, again human scale, are encased in glass tubes. Unlike many anatomy illustrations where the brain ends at the neck, these models have trailing tail-like nerves, like devolved creatures.

At first observation, the objects might seem familiar or recognizable to the spectator. It soon becomes clear that they are not inert. The spectator is sensed and the brains excite. Electrons become agitated and plasma gases flare up in the tubes, the brains responding. The spectator might touch a tube and the plasma's energy stream follows the hand, straining for contact.

Finally, the light begins a beat, a pattern of on and off, as if signaling. The empty space between the tubes becomes highly charged, especially if both brains are firing, both tubes are beating. In this charged space, with the tubes signaling like distant planets, spectators wander like ...   >>>>