What is iconic in architecture? It's a debate that will never be settled precisely because the definition of "icon" is perennially changing to reflect the culture from which it derives. An icon, after all, is not necessarily a classic, and this inherent tension is partly what fuels Trans(inter)ference, an installation designed by Maya Alam in collaboration with Daniele Profeta and three Syracuse University students: Emily Greer, Waralee Kaewkoon and Thomas Byung H. Kim. 

Made up from repurposed VHS tape strung over a frame system that has a rectangular series of partitions and a curved awning-like flourish, the work seems to never quite come into focus due to the fluttering of the tape. This constant subtle motion means that there is no one "right" way to perceive it: each observer's experience is free from a predetermined context. In this sense, Trans(inter)ference achieves its stated goal of being "an in-between object that weaves subject, object, and context into one." 

Mounted in Montepellier, France for the Festival des Architectures Vives in June 2015, the installation was sited in the courtyard of a stone villa, replete with stone-strewn walkways and potted plants. Originally commissioned by Syracuse University as a "3D Drawing", the distinction between this contemporary installation and the established architecture is notable. This is partly because observers would glimpse irregular sections of the older building through the shuddering VHS tape, like fragments of an old television broadcast interrupted by the winds. In an age distinguished as much for how it repurposes as how it innovates, the installation definitely seems to be iconic, if not necessarily classic.