COALESCE

Online, 2013.

During a research trip to New York City for Manhattan Phrase and Pastorale, Novak documented, archived, and analysed various sights and sounds at sites associated with both projects. These helped inform the colour, form, movement, and sounds of the final work/s for each project. Novak turned one of these elements into its own project titled Coalesce to help tie Manhattan Phrase and Pastorale together.

HANDLING FACILITY

The first work titled Handling Facility presented a series of still images of a queuing system in a local supermarket on 14th Street, Manhattan. This system was designed to help reduce average checkout time and perceived wait times by directing shoppers in line to checkout registers using large monitors. In theory this was meant to create positive shopping experiences and improve general business workflow. The six coloured bars used colours similar to the six colour version of the rainbow flag.

Handling Facility linked queuing system mechanics to the mechanics of society that attempted to control local queer communities at the time through law, policy, and media.

CRITICAL POINTS

The next work titled Critical Points is an animation created by Novak that builds on Handling Facility to create a connecting point between Manhattan Phrase and Pastorale. It begins with the GPS coordinates that bound both projects, moves back in time to the Stonewall riots and Christopher Street Liberation Day, and ends with the 12 heritage sites on 14th Street.