Download pdf of Option/Shift.

Option/Shift, 1989
An annotated interview with Esther Parada by Deborah Bright

Option/Shift was designed to be published by the University of Colorado's Platen Press in conjunction with their earlier publication of my 42-document wall piece called The Monroe Doctrine: Theme and Variations, entirely generated on a Macintosh computer. It seemed appropriate therefore that much of the illustrative material for this book be drawn from computer "sketches" for that piece. Within that framework, however, I have also layered a number of digitized fragments from earlier work or work-in-progress of a more personal nature, as well as several halftone reproductions of work referred to in the text. In addition to the obvious fact that this personal work unfolds within a public/historical context, it seems increasingly clear to me that both kinds of images share another connection: concern with issues of perception and manipulation--shifting relationships of power and attention. Thence the title of this interview. At a literal level option and shift are words familiar to Macintosh users as keystroke commands which constrain or transform computer functions.

—Parada's introductory paragraph in Option/Shift, frontpiece, 1989

Return to top. Return to artwork.