Physical Description
Communion of the Lottery is an interactive environment. The environment consists of two interactive sculptures in a whole room context (see attached sketch). The first sculpture, Communion of the Lottery, hangs on the far wall from the entrance, and consists of a nickel-chrome plated aluminum casting of a full sized pig head. The mouth of the pig is wide open. Surrounding the pig head is an array of long ‘crystal’ shaped translucent rods (similar to giant quartz crystals). These are arranged in a sun-burst pattern. Backing this is red-velvet wallpaper cut in a heraldic shield shape. The mouth of the pig is wide open and the devout can slide their finger all the way down the throat of the pig until their finger is stamped (in ink) with a unique 6 digit serial number. This is a lottery number.
The second sculpture, Decider of the Lottery, sits at the entrance of the room and is a large (4’) egg crusted in coarse salt and white epoxy resin (same material successfully used in Prayer Antenna). The egg is sitting on a small black lacquer table (see sketch). The egg is banded with wide bands of nickel-chrome plated steel. On the front of the egg is a 6 digit nixie-tube display. Normally it is not lit. (Nixie tubes are an old fashioned type of numerical display identical in use to modern day LEDs but implemented with vacuum tubes and glowing hot wires). The egg has a hole in the top which accepts a rod, Staff of the Lottery, which when inserted causes the digits of the nixie tube display to randomly cycle and eventually settle on a lottery number. The Staff of the Lottery has a hardwood shaft, nickel-chrome plated steel tip and a red cast-resin crown.
The temple of the Lottery has white walls with black leafless-tree silhouettes. The floor is covered by red artificial turf and a path of fine white gravel connects the Communion of the Lottery with the Decider of the Lottery.
Thematic Description
Communion of the Lottery is part of a new series that started with the Prayer Antenna. It is a series of technological religious artifacts. My work is a study of human folly: follies that are initiated, mediated and propagated by technology. The Lottery is surely a folly and thus absolutely human. It examines the intersection of technology, mysticism, and religion. In Communion of the Lottery, technology is a bridge between the organized structure of religion and the ecstatic rapture of mysticism.
The interactivity of participating in the Lottery, as a religious experience, gives the participant an opportunity to immerse into an alternate, but completely possible reality. The outcome of the Lottery is divine providence; the practical outcome of the Lottery is left for the participant to imagine: Heaven or Hell, Salvation or Sacrifice, Champion or Pariah.