Synopsis
This project will use text on large scale projections as a medium. The intend is to produce an exchange between project and site (Cameron Offices) whilst generating in the viewer a reflective and visual aesthetic experience . In order to create a dialogue between text and site the source of the text will be Twitter through both Canberra and Belconnen trends. The nature of the text will be dynamic in regards to colour, size, typography and movement. I believe that by doing so the project in a way will be achieving what David McCandless referred to as “A combination of the language of the eye (the beautiful) with a language of the mind (words, concepts, numbers).
Background and Context
Unmistakeably the background for this project can be traced to conceptual art particularly as represented by Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger and Joseph Kosuth. Each has a very specific and distinct content yet at the core of each artist’s work is the idea of words as an art form and not necessarily in a literary sense. In the case of Holzer and Kruger the usage of text is done in a grand and bold manner accentuating their very poignant messages.
The three following projects exercise the legacy of the artists I mentioned above, some to a greater extend than others. I decided to reference them because even though they too possess a background in conceptual art, the manner in which they relate to this project goes beyond that fact. Text Rain by Camille Utterback, because of her installation’s dynamic text and how it was achieved (programming). Cross-Border-Communication by Broken City Lab, due to their pursuit to create a dialogue between two cities and the presence the city has in their work. In the case of my project, the wanted dialogue is between site and projections. Eureka car-park by Alex Peemoeller, even though the intention and outcome of this project varies from the rest, I chose it because of its clever use of text, typography and perspective I find it visually engaging and I want to reproduce some of that visual vibrancy in my projections.
Addressing the brief
By working in conjunction with the BEAM collective and projecting onto the Cameron Offices façade I believe the first point of the brief is met to a certain extend. That is, that we can reinterpret the urban space as an immense “canvas” onto which we can “paint” on with “digital brushes”.
I think that digital tools can transform the urban space by directly yet tacitly modifying our experience in it. So even though there is no actual physical transformation taking place in the urban space our view, interaction and comprehension of it is in constant change. In the particular case of this project, digital tools will make the buildings become dynamic receptors of colour, text and ideas, this will produce a different experience of them. The project is making direct use of a social media site (Twitter) to source its data by so doing I think it addresses the second point of the brief, that of the different digital layers that make up the urban space. The third point in the brief ask How can digital tools represent the urban space? This project will make a textual representation of Canberra by means of what is written about it in Twitter. I think that cities are living entities and through their twitter feed one can in a way see and feel their vibrancy.
Description
This project is based on large scale projections of text. The text will be sourced from Twitter in real time so as to get a deep insight onto the general feeling of the city. The projections themselves will be active in regards to colour and movement. The text’s mobility will be subjected to paths reminiscent of ducts or pipelines this will evoke the fact that the buildings had a Lamson sytem. I find it important to recognise this, because in doing so I believe the whole ethos of Cameron Offices can be acknowledge. Moreover, my intention is to have a direct link to the city and suburb twitter trends mentioned above, so every time a post is made it will projected onto the wall, each new projected post will vary in colour and typography from the previous one and all the projected post will remain visible. Generating after a while a pool of posts and with it a kind of impromptu dialogue of the city’s habitants. With the aid of the convener, I will find and implement a set of digital tools that will enable me to access, compile and visually modify the posts in real time.
In my mind’s eye:
