No Change
Kypros Kyprianou 2018
Commissioned by Science Gallery, London for Hooked exhibition.
No Change is a coin operated artwork. When a visitor puts a coin into the slot of this fairly utilitarian looking machine, they hear the coin drop down and travel through the mechanism. Various sounds describe journeys or displacements inside the box – from a bee buzzing around in its interior, to the sound of money being dropped into a jar, or the sound of the coin travelling and zigzagging down a chute.
It soon becomes apparent that the length of journey that the sounds describes, however, is impossibly long for the coin in relation to the size of the box. This sets up a dissonance for the visitor between risk and reward, action and reaction, of delayed gratification.
Eventually the same coin shoots out of the return slot for the visitor to either catch or retrieve from the floor. The more quickly a coin is inserted between ‘plays’, the longer the sonic journey that the coin takes between entering and being ejected.
I was interested in exploring how we interact with gambling slot machines – the physical act of placing a coin in a slot and the mental act of waiting and expecting either a reward of gain or of loss. This simple dynamic between the action and the outcome is usually framed with other stylistic flourishes.
What dynamics are revealed if these are removed and paired down to their most basic? What happens when the ‘payoff’ takes longer the more it is used? In simulating and stimulating an addictive experience, what does it reveal experientially about addictive behaviour?
In stripping away the usual cultural trappings surrounding this act, I want to focus on this psychological interval between the pleasure of risk and reward. It elongates the momentary nature of an addictive act to reveal the process – of gratification between the object and action, the psychology of time bound up in the act of fulfilling compulsive behaviour.
Thanks to David Chatting for early coding and prototyping, Matt Jarvis for final coding and troubleshooting and Tom Schofield for hints and tips.
Commissioning exhibition information:
Hooked Science Gallery, London, 2018
Curated by Hannah Redler
Participating artists: Olivia Locher, Lawrence Epps, Kypros Kyprianou, Atelier 010, Richard Billingham, Varvara & Mar, Yole Quintero, Katriona Beales, Jonah Brucker Cohen, Benjamin Grosser, Rachel Maclean, Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos, Joachim Koester, Dryden Goodwin, Mr Gee, Angus Scott-Miller, Blast Theory, Fabio Lattanzi-Antinori, Natasha Caruana, Mark King, Melanie Manchot, YoHa, Daniel Regan, Fallen Angels.
Touring exhibition information:
Now Play This Somerset House, London, 2019
Festival participants including artists and game designers: Assemble, Kristi Minchin, Xalavier Neslon Jnr., Emma Winston, Kypros Kyprianou, Katie Wickens, Hwa Young Jung, Sindi Breshani, Kenechukwu Ogbuagu, Lyrelark, Princess, Alexander Perrin, Dipyaman Kar, Abi Palmer, Patrick LeMieux, sokpop, Mountains, We Throw Switches, Molly Soda with Aquma, Zach Gage, Viviane Schwarz and Kevan Davis, Thomas Bowker, Emilie Reed, Zium Society, Behrooz Shahriari.