2-channel fixed audio, video, and Braille box

Duration: 6'30"

Composed in 2009.

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This piece is a result of my friendship with two brothers who happen to be blind. All of the personal electronics these brothers use, from cell phones to laptops, have software that reads aloud whatever text is on display. Over time they have increased the speed by which the software reads the text to the point where it sounds like gibberish to someone not accustomed to it. This fascinated me and made me wonder if I can be a true judge of meaning or whether I only assign meaning to things I understand. In this piece I recorded the text reading software speaking selected parts of Platos Allegory of the Cave along with other text fragments. I then used the resulting audio in conjunction with Braille symbols and images to explore how meaning and our own understanding can change over time.