Conversation Piece (2009) is an ongoing sound installation that senses, processes, and reinterprets ambient sound from outside the gallery space through signal processing, feedback loops, found audio footage, and live performance.
The piece uses a microphone placed against the north window to capture sound from inside and outside the space which is then processed through a series of software applications and rebroadcast to the other side of the space in real time. A second input manipulates the playback in response to the presence of the listener. The activity outside the space can be viewed from the listening site through the glass lobby of the gallery.
By using the gallery space as structure and content, the installation takes on a physical quality that is both cinematic and fantastic, where the everyday is rearticulated to form a shifting soundtrack of complex tones, feedback loops, radio signals, and bird sounds. The piece can be experienced as a traditional soundscape, but can also facilitate collaborative performance, where the architecture of the space is used as a platform for improvisation and experimentation.

Jessica Thompson is a new media artist whose projects explore social interactions within public space through sound, performance, and mobile technologies. Her sound pieces create collaborative situations with audiences where the integrity of the artwork is determined by willing participants.
Her projects have been shown in exhibitions and festivals such as ARCO (Madrid), MACO (Mexico City),  dp003 (Dundee, Scotland), ISEA 2006 (San José, CA), the Conflux Festival (New York), Thinking Metropolis (Copenhagen), InterAccess Artist Run Centre (Toronto), Video Pool (Winnipeg), the Deep Wireless Festival (Toronto), and the M:ST Festival of Performance Art (Calgary). She lives and works between Toronto and Buffalo. Thompson is represented by p|m Gallery in Toronto.