In 1983, Meridel Rubenstein and I did a slowscan exchange between Brussels and Boston, an image exchange between Meridel and her friend and fellow photographer, Wendy McNeil. They exchanged images of what they were experiencing, Meridel’s touristic visit to Brussels and Wendy’s daily life in Boston. Meridel worked in the collage format she was using extensively at the time. Transmission time was 30 seconds for the quality shown here. The portrait was our signature photo of the event. Meridel has preserved photos of the images taken off the screen. Other photos of that exchange will be posted later.
Slowscan was a early process for sending images over the phone by grabing an image, analysing it, converting the whites, grays and blacks into sound signals sent over the phone. The same system was used for “Interface”, my first network project with MIT and the 12th Paris Biennale in 1982.
Meridel’s 1st collage of Brussels sent
Wendy McNeil’s 1st photo
Meridel’s original photo view before being sent, giving an idea of the contrast in quality
Wendy’s 2nd image
Meridel & Don, sign-off photo
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution.