Hair Salon TV: A Computer-Controlled Video Installation

The author’s installation Hair Salon TV consists of a computer-controlled video-switching system. The chrome helmets of three women’s hairstyling chairs were fitted with 11-in monitors. Computer-controlled imagery routed to the monitors from three source VTRs documents various aspects of the relationship between women and developments in technology: technology and women in the workplace, women in scientific and technological research and women working with domestic technology such as household appliances. The juxtaposition of this imagery using computer switching encourages an awareness of the diverse roles that women occupy within high-technology Western culture.