Many ask how we found our way to this work, and to working with each other.
We found each other across the campus of our large research university around 2005 or 2006. Around that time, Kevin had sent a message to scholar John Durham Peters sharing his appreciation for the book Speaking Into the Air (University of Chicago Press, 1999), and expressing a wish to meet sometime. Peters replied that another scholar – Ned O'Gorman – at University of Illinois had invited him to campus soon. We soon found each other and began a rich exploration of shared interests.
Not long after, Ned attended a talk Kevin gave on interface aesthetics, industrial consoles, and human factors research. (Kevin had been creating artworks that functioned interactive consoles at the time.) Based on Kevin's work and interests, Ned invited him to view Operation Ivy(1954), a film he had found in connection with his research for the book Spirits of the Cold War (Michigan State, 2012). The film featured a number of scenes focused on the consoles and operators associated with the tests; We got together to watch and discuss a digital version of the film from the Prelinger Collection on the Internet Archive. That conversation grew into a presentation or two and eventual paper on the role of interface aesthetics in film and nuclear deterrence.
In studying Operation Ivy, early on we spied the name of Lookout Mountain Laboratory in the credits, and began to wonder what could be learned about this entity. Beyond Peter Kuran's helpful film, little could be found. And so we set out to learn what they could together.