I Have a Mood and I Have the Ring

In Yael Kanarek's new extension to 'World of Awe,' the 'mRB,' she prototypes the traveler's favorite intelligent toy, the moodRingBaby (mRB), through a slick powder blue 3d web interface made in collaboration with Bnode (Judith Gieseler and Innes Yates). Originally, the moodRingBaby played the role of the traveler's sole companion, showing the twisted smarts of an advanced Tamagotchi with a mild case of Tourette's -- this combo provided some of the more entertaining albeit disturbed dialogue and stories in the Traveler's Journals. The new collaboration looks at the mRB more clinically, reducing it to its key components: skin, input, CPU, and output. The web interface, models, and drawings of the moodRingBaby are on exhibit as part of Beta-Launch at Eyebeam, in NYC, through December 1. -- Margaret Penney