88 Constellations for Wittgenstein (to be played with the Left Hand) is an interactive, non-linear net.art piece that explores the life and philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein through a series of animated vignettes created in Flash. Each of the 88 sections corresponds to one of the 88 constellations in the night sky. The constellations become a way for the viewer to negotiate the associative relationships between these vignettes. As well, viewers can interact with each collage animation using their left hand to trigger events from the computer keyboard (in homage to Ludwig Wittgenstein’s brother Paul – a concert pianist who lost his right arm in WWI but continued his career performing piano works composed for the Left Hand). This work considers questions that Ludwig Wittgenstein pondered in his career as a philosopher: logic, language, the nature of thinking, and the limits of knowledge – all in relation to our contemporary digital world.
www.88constellations.net