The Trans-Dimensional Switchboard-Operator

The Trans-Dimensional Switchboard-Operator (TDSO) is an interactive installation and a durational performance.

Mathilda’s new-media alter-ego The Trans-Dimensional Switchboard-Operator (TDSO) is a quasi-omnipotent connection-driven entity speaking with you directly through a glamorous tech spectacle - a faux-AI if you will.

Performing as her new-media alter ego the TDSO, Mathilda connects with a diverse range of participants - delving into how they are personally relating to their digital selves and the technological mediation of broader social connection.

The TDSO may seem like a bedazzled chat-bot or video-enabled ChatGPT - but this is an inversion of the Eliza effect. Mathilda is improvising each response in real time, typing responses and using her library of pre-filmed characters with an Al voice clone to animate the TDSO.

While each installation is unique, the main features of this piece are:

• The TDSO Entity Projection - this central figure ‘speaks’ each response with a different video clip, selected from Mathilda’s growing library of pre-filmed ‘entities’

• The Operator - Mathilda is composing each response to participants in a live, durational performance. The technology allows her to do this from anywhere with an internet connection; however, participants have a stronger response when able to witness her do this IN PERSON.

• The Audio Component - The TDSO’s voice (Eleven Labs Voice Clone) speaks Mathilda’s typed responses into the space, accompanied by collaborator Jason Cornwell’s adaptive TDSO Soundscape. (for the best sample, scroll down to the Folsen Projects)

• The Interface - The mode through which participants communicate with the TDSO has included: texting inquiries to a phone number, a kiosk with microphone and display for text-to-speech, and typing on handheld bluetooth keyboards with text composition visible as a floor projection. Participant queries are spoken aloud in the space and also displayed visually to provide context for a larger audience.

• The Atmosphere - This is a vital component and the most site-specific. The goal is to immerse participants in a fabulation - creating space for curiosity and intimacy. Practical elements to achieve this have included: lighting, audio, atmospheric projection - and in collaboration with Joseph Corcoran, projection on glass and neon installation.

In performance after performance, participants have a hard time realizing that there is a human pulling the strings, even as Mathilda has used progressively obvious clues. In NOMAD 2024 Mathilda sat visibly behind her projection and talked directly into a mic rather than using a voice clone and still participants walked out of the experience convinced it was an “AI”. The content of recent performances has focused on that aspect, pulling apart what participants believe about the technology they use - finding a tangle of myths, fears and intimacy.

Examples of previous TDSO installations:

Above: NOMAD art fair in Torrence LA 2024. (recommend captions ON) - Below: Wassaic Project 2023