NECESSARY ILLUSIONS WITH 24 CUPS OF COFFEE

Multiple media Installation.Acrylic on canvas, HTML interface on computer Dimensions- 48” X 72”

Baiju Parthan, 2000
   

Necessary Illusions with 24 Cups of Coffee is an interactive cyber installation consisting of a conventional painting executed in acrylic on canvas and a virtual extension of the same painting as an interface active on a computer.

As the viewer glides the mouse pointer over the digital replica of the painting, ‘hot’ links show up. These links when clicked open into a series of screens and gradually unfolding a rambling narrative.

 
  The original painting and its click-able version running on a computer beside it constitute the installation. All the motifs in the digital version of the painting when clicked on, expand into various contexts depicted through messages and animated sequences that pop up
 
The idea behind Necessary Illusions is to reveal how high technology as a reflexive / reflective surface, crystalises our inherent need for transcending the ‘given’
  The painting and the interface are conceived as three separate sections or areas that negotiate among each other through interactivity. The three panels are titled DESIRE, NEGOTIATE, and REDEMPTION respectively.
   
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