Compassion is an installation by ODL Fellow Yucef Merhi that responds to the turbulent times we are living through. It integrates language, video games, CRT TVs, sound, and consciousness.
The work is comprised of five CRT TVs with transparent cases connected to five Atari 2600 game consoles. Each Atari device holds a cartridge programmed, assembled, and designed by Yucef. These custom cartridges display words depicting one of his poetic insights: “Compassion is the Divine Compass”. The experience is permeated with Tibetan bell sounds played through a speaker.
The clear case TVs presented in this installation allude to the prototype of the very first commercial TV introduced by RCA in the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Despite their beauty, these televisions were originally produced for jails to prevent smuggling. All the TV sets used in this installation belonged to prison inmates across the US. In this sense, Compassion operates as a transformative tool to redeem our own obsolescence and toxic behaviors. The work also explores the use of outdated technologies as part of Yucef’s ODL investigation titled Retrocycling.
Compassion was funded by The Ellies, Miami’s visual arts awards, presented by Oolite Arts, and is currently on view at The Bonnier Gallery in Miami, Fl.