Part performance, part digital-critical intervention, this project involves repurposing a discarded Catholic tabernacle (a lock-safe of sorts, designed to hold sacred bread) as a temporary storage locker for handheld devices. The Tabernacle Ministerslock away the (de)vices of patrons as they enter an event, and exchange them for “prayer cards” that encourage analog mindfulness, fleshly presence, and contemplation of digital sins. Temporarily unable to digitally document their acitivities, participants in the event are forced to internalize memories, which can be shared later only through recollection and storytelling. When they return to retrieve their handhelds, patrons have the opportunity to confess their “digital sins” to a Tabernacle Minister. All sins are absolved by the rituals of the Digital Tabernacle. Another component of the performance is perhaps ironic: the Ministers wear lifelogging cameras retrofitted to look like crosses on lanyards. These devices allow the artists to take a photo every 30 seconds during the performance, which will are converted into a time-lapse documentation on the web site digitaltabernacle.org .

See the article in Slate: “Confess Your Digital Sins”

Carnival of the Future, Phoenix, Arizona, 2014
Nuit Blanche, Toronto, Ontario, 2014
Steel Rails Sessions, Waterloo, Ontario, 2014
Contemporary Art Forum of Kitchener and Area (CAFKA), Kitchener, Ontario, 2014