AIR DATASCAPE
FOR MACHINE VIEWING ARTWORK

Proposal

The proposed work juxtaposes environmental data and photography. While air quality data is translated into movements of a paper wind turbine, a video sequence of an elderly man walking away under cherry blossoms is also double juxtaposed with the live video feed of a back of a viewer. The viewer realizes that they are being filmed in real time, and yet, it is not a face but the back of them, blended with a stranger walking away. The air quality data is historical and recorded thus it is used in a loop. The short video of the man is also looped while the live feed of the viewer is not, and it is only momentarily viewed while the viewer is present in front of the work. While the viewer’s presence is not captured in a face recognition software, they are aware that they have been caught on camera. Although the video-feed is live, the image-data goes through MAX/MSP system to cause a delay, appearing as if they are a ghost in real time.

 

Setting:

Air pollution data, NO₂.  (Nitrogen Dioxide) and PM2.5 (particulate matter), will be collected around the photographer’s gallery. The collected data will be incorporated into a set of codes for a microcontroller that dictates the turning speed of a paper wind turbine accordingly to the level of air pollution. A micro camera is placed near the turbine-machine. A viewer while contemplating on the movement of the turbine stands their back to the camera. A separate small screen next to the turbine machine shows delayed moving images of the back of the viewer blended with a short moving image of a senior man walking away and disappearing behind a cherry blossom. 

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​Context:

A short digital video of the man disappearing behind the blossoms provides an illusionistic reproduction of place and space. On the contrary air pollution data is a numerical translation of the atmosphere of the place and space that is invisible to the human eye. These two types of data sets are played while also looped in recorded time and in real time as they encounter with each other in the work.

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