Airborne Newscasts

Relational Architecture 20

"Airborne Newscasts" (Relational Architecture 20) is an interactive shadow play originally commissioned by the Chrysler Museum of Art to transform Norfolk’s public space. Participants block the light of two projectors casting their shadows on a 900 sqm wall, and these are tracked by computerized surveillance systems. Out of the shadows emanate billowing smoke which is mapped onto the wall and accumulates in it. Turbulent clouds of text evaporate from the “heat” of the tracked bodies. The text are live news cables from Reuters, Agencia EFE, Notimex, AlterNet, AP and other sources.

The opening of the project in Norfolk was just a couple of days after the Boston Marathon Bombing and out of respect for the victims the newscasts were replaced with poetry from salient authors such as John Ashbery, Kathy Acker, Wallace Stevens, Cedar Sigo, Adrian Matejka, Nicole Brossard, William Blake and others.

General info

Spanish name:
Al Aire
Year of creation:
2013
Technique:
Projectors, computers, surveillance cameras, custom-made software running Navier-Stokes equations
Power:
Variable depending on screen size
Room conditions:
Works in darkness, some environmental light is acceptable but the projectors would need higher brightness
Dimensions:
Variable, minimum dimensions 5 x 2.5 m
Keywords:
interactive, outdoor, tracker, lights, projection, generator, shadows, sound, smoke
Edition:
3 Editions, 1 AP

Exhibitions


Credits

  • Programming: Conroy Badger
  • Web Scraper: Phil Schleihauf
  • Production Assistance: Julie Bourgeois, Guillaume Tremblay, Carolina Murillo-Morales
  • Commissioned by: Chrysler Museum of Art in partnership with the Norfolk Consortium and the Virginia Arts Festival

Links


Bibliography