I asked my friend, Cathy, to tell me why Googletrends reports a steady drop in screensaver searches.  The decline dates from 2004 to the present.  Cathy,  a friend I’ve known since Hampshire College days,  is a Screensaver Auteur.

Idle Time Software

In 2008, Cathy’s company produced “Holding Pattern” a screensaver that simulates the experience of intermittently  gazing out of an airplane window and snoozing.  Apple praised  the work for its creativity and lauded Idle Time Software for its programming integrity.  Eventually David Byrne bought a copy from Cathy’s website and invited her collaborate with him on a photography project using the original software she developed to create Holding Pattern.

Cathy Creating Idletime’s Sunset 23
Photo by, Susanna Speier

Deluge of the Anti-gadget

The reason people hate screensavers, Cathy explained, is because skanky software scumbags load them with spyware, adware and viruses.  Screensavers –especially those free screensaver downloads people get online — are often the epitome of skank.

The Great Google Has Spoken

I went to GoogleAdWords to figure out what screensaver keywords have surged over the internet  last month.

1,220,000 users  trawled the internet using the word “screensaver” and the same number searched for the plural form.   “Free screensavers,” came in third, and “Halloween screensavers” was right after at 135,000.

There was no data available for look-ups of “search engine scam,” and fewer than 1,000 were savvy enough to specifically search  for “screensaver spyware.”  Legit as the fear of bogus downloads may be, the search patterns indicate that the fear is based more on conjecture than research and analyses.

Figuring Out Whether or Not Screensaver = Oxymoron

Cathy takes pride in Idle Time’s technical integrity.  She does not sell ad space or generate income through site referral, and she even posts a personal disclaimer officiating the fact she does that she does not add spyware.

And in case you’ve been wondering, the reason Cathy  could spend a year developing a technically, creatively and conceptually sophisticated screensaver  is revenue generated from the deluxe versions of her free software enables her to do so.  Cubicle Flood was therefore made possible by Holding Pattern’s success.

Despite Cathy’s disclaimers, getting people to trust a free screensaver  download  is increasingly challenging.  Could the Googletrends be winning?

Cubicle Flood - The Waters are Rising

The generic grey cubicle office where Cathy used to work inspired the brand new screensaver, “Cubicle Flood.” “It was an emotional response to the deadening work environment,” she says.  “You see a workspace that’s been generated for you by a Human Resources Department.”

Cathy’s Katrina survivor friends do not like the feeling that the  new screensaver evokes.  “Water is incredibly strong and it creeps in,” Cathy says.  The office depicted in Cubicle Flood, however, “isn’t affected the way a real space would be. Cubicle Flood is a dream of a flood and not a real flood.”

Daniel Alcheh’s Soundtrack

Daniel Alcheh, masterfully composed the original soundtrack of Cubicle Flood.  His music complements the flood’s progression over time without overpowering the visual elements.

One wouldn’t think that a disasterscape like a hurricane, tsunami or flood– with rising waters and rising music– would have a tranquil and meditative effect, but in Cubicle Flood, that peacefulness prevails as water and music gradually fills an otherwise sterile and impersonal office environment.

Composer, Daniel Alcheh in His Studio
Photo by, Susanna Speier

The music and the water move through time together.  The collaborative success is evident in the  fact that sound and image inform one another without imposing narrative and context.

Transcendance

“Its a really transcendent environment, but I see it as a beautiful state, a transcendence over what the office looked like previously,” Cathy says.

The soon to be released deluxe version of this production will fill your screen at different speeds and in different office environments.  You can flood an office several times a day or spend an entire day, flooding one.

Talk to Me - Fodder for Your Commentary

What sort of screensaver do you use?
Where did it come from?
How do you know whether or not a screensaver is safe?