Lost in Translation

I often think of the cameras on our computers, phones, and tablets as eyes. These eyes see the world in a different way than we do. The computer has no emotion or sense of spiritual worth. “Lost in Translation” gives the viewer insight into the “mind” of a computer. Using the Google Translate app, I translated nine hand-painted sentences from Russian to English. The nine sentences are different variations of a phrase that translates into English as “The Line that Separates Us.” Each of the nine sentences utilizes a different combination of words that mean “line” and “separate”. The iPad reads these phrases using its built in camera and translates them into English. Some sentences are translated without any problems, however, due to irregularities in the handwriting, the iPad creates nonsensical word formations. Strange phrases emerge and change the meaning entirely. Not only does the original information get diluted through language barriers, it also loses significance because of the computer’s inability to read the handwriting.