Lipstick Enigma
2010

This computer-driven sentence-generator, using rules and lexicon written by the artist, invents and writes a new line of text, and displays it on the sign when triggered by a motion detector. The sentences mix the language of engineering with the language of beauty advertising.

for the Harris Engineering Center, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL
Commissioned by Florida Art in State Buildings

10.5'X18"X12.5" aluminum, steel, electronics, resin, (1200 resin lipsticks powered by 1200 stepper motors, controlled by 60 circuit boards), glass, language generating program.

A few things Lipstick Enigma said:

New sprocket, new you.
Totally hot emissions!
Head-to-toe source code.
Defrag his confidence.
Bring out your inner widget.
Engineers tell all!
Allure is cartesian.
Vibrating powermascara!
Modemheads in nerdistan.
Say hello to his compiler.
Techies rule.
Pixelate her personality.
Set points you'll hunger for!
Motorize her vibrantly!
Statisticians in love.
Oscillating cheeks?
Dare to experiment!
Pair circuitry with taste.
Resisting distortion?
Hook up in the matrix.
This year's gamma!
Ecstasy is fissionable.
Hack into me mintily.
Quantify her trust.
Power-up your face.
Deluxe feminine monomers!
Lust is not electrical.
Love in the uncanny valley.
Torque his virtue.
Pair sonar with ego.
Reinvent yourself.
Can't live without input.
10 minutes to firmware.
Debounce my underarms.
Gadget fatigue!
Tired of solder?
Detox distasteful uplinks!

Schematic design: Franklyn Berry
Original fabrication: Benjamin Cohen, Stuart Heys, Todd Holoubek
Refined, rebuilt, and repaired in 2017 by Alpha Proto, Orlando, FL
Code: Jon Meyer
Project manager for UCF: Theo Lotz
Thanks to poet Jena Osman
Photographs and video by Stephen Allen

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