July 21st, 2010 - Final Post
I have to admit I dropped the ball. I think I was hoping that I would find a collaborator who would help me with the code and we’d work together on the movements of the figures, find a way to create multiple color systems for tracking more than one viewer. Of course this kind of interaction and testing would happen best when we had a space to work in together and were sitting side by side analyzing how people interacted with the project. I have only had the opportunity to present this once and while I have submitted the idea to numerous festivals I have not found a second venue to show the project and work out some of the issues. I appreciate the feedback I have received and think the comments reflect the issues I am grappling with. I would love to have the opportunity to present The Unemployed in a public space. What happens when some one interacts with the code on the computer screen is really different then when a video camera tracks the people in a space. My idea of having that silhouette become a representation of a labor force is not clear nor is the representation of urban space.
I think this residency would have worked better for me if it was not virtual. Its hard to know that in advance but in retrospect I needed the push and the input from other people who I could interact with in real space. I was hoping that I would entice some ace programmer to collaborate with me.
The theoretical and context and content driven questions are most helpful as I think about the project. I realize how I depicted urban space was too minimal. here are some other examples of that. I am also posting an image of what 3-4 different populations could look like as well as some pictures of other’s projects that served as inspiration.
I appreciate the feedback I received and hope some day I can realize the project anew.
sample installation view where each person is a different population as a different color
a more urban setting
another more urban background
an installation in an urban space by raphael lorenzo hemmer
Pedestrian by Paul Kaiser
Pau (July 23rd, 2010 at 5:53 am)
Dear Jody,
I am sorry this has not worked better for you. The concept of
your project is, in my opinion, very interesting, as are the
possibilities of interaction. Although, as you state, you
probably would have worked better side by side with a programmer,
maybe you can work on dealing with the limitations in a creative
way. Sometimes the solution is not to achieve a more complex form
of interaction, even though this can be desirable, so I think you
could consider developing the work further by continuing with an
interaction for a single person and testing different visual
objects and settings. Additionally, if you do not have the space
to set up a large projection, probably a screen-based work with a
webcam may be an option. In any case, I’d like to encourage you
to continue working on your project and keep in mind that an
artwork is more about the concept than about a display of
technology: even the simplest form of interaction can be engaging
if you can communicate the idea.
Best wishes,
Pau
Tim Pickup (July 30th, 2010 at 4:39 pm)
I think Hobbes Leviathan might be interesting to you
thematically. (The state as a composite of individuals).
In terms of tracking several people at once, there are various
free blob detection libraries but they are always going to to get
in a pickle when people cross over each other.