Modern Orthodox - The laser eruv system.

A laser bloom produced by shooting a red laser out a window and into a wireless surveillance camera mounted across the street.

Modern Orthodox is a working demonstration of my next-generation laser eruv system. An eruv (pronounced ey-roov) is a symbolic boundary erected around religious Jewish neighborhoods throughout the world. It is typically constructed with poles and wires – whereas my eruv uses low-power lasers, making it less susceptible to environmental damage.

An eruv is an ancient architectural construct that stems from the observation of the Sabbath, the sacred day of rest that includes a prohibition against certain kinds of work, including the carrying of objects outside one's home. The presence of an eruv allows carrying on the Sabbath by converting the public space within its boundaries into the shared private space of the community. In this way, observant Jews can carry objects such as keys or prayer books while acting in accordance with sacred Talmudic principles.

Because the physical integrity of an eruv is essential to its symbolic function, a breach in any portion renders it useless. Laborious inspections of the perimeter are conducted prior to every Sabbath. The laser eruv, however, is not as susceptible to permanent breakage. A branch of a tree, for example, may impede the flow of light but will not permanently damage the apparatus. Surveillance cameras built into the system pinpoint areas still requiring maintainence. The content of these video feeds were displayed at Eyebeam as part of the installation of this work.

By Elliott Malkin – at Eyebeam, June 29 to July 15, 2006

Thanks to David Neff for engineering and photography.

How to Zap a Camera
Notes on Social Architectures as Art Forms
On Drawing Lines on a Map
Sophie Calle

The New York City Eruv Code

Talmud