The Globe and Mail - LAb[au]

The Globe and Mail
Kate Taylor
Published Thursday, Jun. 14 2012, 8:00 AM EDT

Kate Taylor on some of the best art installations at the sixth annual Luminato festival, which runs in Toronto June 8-17

SignalToNoise
Step inside the fairy ring erected on the departures level of Terminal 1, and prepare for a trip. The Belgian art collective LAb[au] has resurrected old split-flap display technology from a European train station and computer-engineered 512 pieces so they randomly flip through letters, only pausing when the program coincidentally generates an English word of three letters or more that it will recognize from its dictionary. Encircled by the once-familiar clicking sound of those flipping letters, the viewer may be gripped by nostalgia for the pre-digital jet age - or grasp some deeper meaning about information and globalization.

S/N runs until June 30 at Pearson International Airport, Terminal 1, in the domestic departures area, pre-security.