Advanced Network Art - Final Project

Mapping the Unseen

This project maps an unseen narrative over the proximity of the Maryland Art Place. Bridging the virtual and the real, the work is experienced as a web of invisible stories that link a fictionalized event to a specific place through the intangible interconnections of the wireless network.

An antenna is positioned at MAP that established a wireless network in an approximately one mile radius in the area of the gallery. Each student will choose a location, object, building, etc within this area and construct an event or set of events that corresponds to it.

The viewer in turns navigates the area via a map with all of the locations positioned on it. When the viewer is in a specific location on the map, they access the event which then unfolds in front an ephemeral presence in the form of video, audio, animation, and text.

The story takes place, literally, in the location where the viewer is situated. The story might be something that happened in the past, it could be an event from the future, it could be real and derived from history, or it could be fictionalized.

The story will involve the place where the viewer is situated, it might involve an object such as a bench or a lamppost, it might take place in front of a building, on a street corner or on the waterfront.

The viewer travels from story to story, a nonlinear sequence of experiences that are as random as a stroll through the neighborhood, but always specific to the place. The stories might evoke a sense of community, the history of the Baltimore port, working class stories, the seedy side of Fells Point, famous Baltimoreans such as Edgar Allen Poe or Babe Ruth, or perhaps the changing culture of downtown.

This project represents a new approach to networked media. Typically we think of the web as a dissolution of geographical specificity, the loss of “place.” Wireless networks on the other hand reaffirm place and create a direct continuum between the virtual and the physical. NYCWireless.net is one such example, bawug.org is another. These networks are springing up at an incredible rate and are creating an extraordinary sense of community grounded in place and neighborhood.

For next week (on paper only):

1. Concept statement and narrative description - describe your story-vignette, including place, object, characters, events, and background context. Approx. 200 - 300 words.

2. Storyboard - sketch your idea as a set of "scenes," even if the sequence is not intended as linear, indicate where the event takes place, movement, action, objects or buildings involved, etc.

This is to be presented in class next week and handed in. Be sure and keep a copy for yourself.