Joe McKay

Tablet Tumbler, 2015

All images taken at Postmaster Gallery from the two-person exhibition "Away From Keyboard"

The design of the Tablet Tumbler object has many human-engineered technological references, including the wheel which allowed for mechanized systems, the cable drum which is used to lay communication wires across land and sea, and the Google Street View car. Cyclical and cinematic references include the pre‐cinema zoetrope, film loop, animated GIF, and programmed computer routine. Considering that interaction with the object requires human will and physical power, there is a playful connection to the story of Sisyphus who is compelled to push a rock up a hill over and again. There is also a mythical connection to the recent Japanese video game Katamari Damacy in which users participate in a narrative by pushing a magical adhesive ball around the city and its surroundings, collecting increasingly larger objects from thumb tacks to people to airplanes to mountains until it the ball is large enough to form a star. From yet another point of view in our fast-changing world of technological innovation, the Tablet Tumbler object can be seen as tumbleweed of aging technology.
Credits: The Tablet Tumbler series is collaborative project with Kristin lucas. It was produced with the support of Eyebeam, Foundation for Contemporary Arts (FCA), Blue House Design, SUNY Purchase College, and The University of Texas at Austin College of Fine Arts.

Tablet Tumbler: Martian Sol Cycle, 2015
Visualizes a full day of the sky as seen from Mars. The view rotates on Martian time.

Tablet Tumbler: PlusPlus, 2015,
Ecstatic about increments. The title "PlusPlus" is derived from programming languages. The operator "++" is used to represent a variable's increase in value.

Tablet Tumbler: Upscale Scribble, 2015
Interaction draws a red line on Google Maps. Small movements produce larger than life scribbles. Plays with impact scale.