Slide projectors don't seem to get at the core of this project for me. Shared Urban Space is continually growing as more and more people join the SUS community and upload their photos to the site (http://www.flickr.com/groups/sus/) Instead of permanently archiving the photos using slides, I've decided a new approach was necessary to represent SUS as a living, growing, breathing project. These ideas include the following:
1. Going back to a single print out of all the images in the project. This time however, make the line more dynamic by presenting the photos in various sizes. The baseline of all the photos will be aligned. This will give the row a more unique shape, better represent the size the pictures were submitted at and the shape should suggest a city skyline.
2. Include a projection of selected photos from the project. Perhaps a nice rear projection.
3. Include a web cam station where people can talk to other photographers in the world who have participated in the project.
4. Include a print station where participants can print selected photographs from the project on a 3"x5" postcard. Maybe use a touch screen for this so a mouse or keyboard won't be needed.
5. Draw attention to certain photos by enlarging them. Creates a more dynamic space and should suggest more of a collection.
6. Offer users an opportunity to upload photos to the project directly in the gallery.
7. Offer users an opportunity to discuss and comment on photos in chat rooms and discussion boards.
8. Give users an opportunity to write in their own assignments somewhere. The new goal for displaying the photos of the SUS project is to generate excitement about the project, encourage user participation and display the large number of submissions to the project.
9. A map with pins in it showing where submissions have come from.
Below: Inspiration, Futurist Photo Exhibition
Below: Suggestion for print-out display of photos:
Recently, I have come across a very exciting idea for displaying the photos for the SUS online project. Ten slide projectors... each projector will be dedicated to one of the ten photo assignments. The large line of slide projectors would be very exciting I feel. They would be left on auto shuffle, which would make for an interesting sound within the bay area. The lights at the end of the space would need to be blocked out.
Currently I have three slide projectors, but six or seven more are on the way hopefully.
The mural/drawing part of my project has been... ELIMINATED! This was a major decision, but it was an idea I've been toying with for awhile now. I am now focusing entirely on my Shared Urban Spaces Project (SUS). As a reminder, this is an online project I began at the beginning of winter term. Shared Urban Spaces is comprised of ten "photo assignments" pertaining to urban areas. For example, assignment one is: "Take a picture of a security camera." The project asks participants to send in photos that complete one of the ten assignments. The photos are then displayed into online galleries. To visit the project, click here.
The reasons for abandoning the drawing/mural are as follows:
1. The two projects together are too much work.
2. Two projects costs more money than one.
3. The projects don't relate.
4. Shared Urban Space is more interesting.
5. Shared Urban Space has received a more positive response.
6. The drawing/mural is just a drawing/mural.
7. I feel that SUS is challenging me more as an artist.
8. The drawing/mural is safe. It is based on something I've been doing for quite some time: drawing.
It is exciting and much less stressful to now have to only deal with the problems relating to one of the projects. The largest problem I have to deal with now is determining how to present the 600 photos (this number is still growing!) from the SUS project in a gallery setting. One idea I have is to display the photos in a single row that goes around the walls of the "bay area." This would be a successful strategy in some ways, because the bay areas are massive in size (60' x 20'). A single row of the photos would easily fill up the space I have available (see below).
Photos displayed in single row that goes around the walls.
Following are a few ideas I've come up with for the title of our show:
Binary Fusion
Turning Point
01101100111
Positively Organized
Streaming Data
Loose Ends
Loose Wires
Digital Deconstruction
The Lone Pixel
Digital Reconstruction
Computing Space
Calculated Space
Every Pixel Counts
The Satellite Project
Joel Mertz
bfa statement
Above me, below me and to either side were lights. Lights of all colors, flashing sporadically, seductively, each with their own sense of urgency. Neon lights that grew from the sides of buildings as if they were alive, and they consumed entire structures whole. There was no end in sight to this limitless symphony of color and chaos. I shared this experience with more than a million other people, who made the landscape even more surreal and overwhelming. This was my first experience in a major metropolis. I was walking along Nanjing Road in Shanghai, China when this barrage of intense visual stimulus engulfed me. Nanjing Road is known as the busiest street in the world.
This excitement, the movement, and the perpetual energy of urban spaces have always inspired me. There is a feeling of endless activity to an urban space that compels me to explore and ultimately become a part of its processes. Quite literally, I have explored the urban space for years using cameras. My goal on these outings has always been the same: to capture and identify the smaller elements that make a city what it is.
For all city inhabitants, the idea of what a city is can very greatly from person to person. Some have great pride in their city, while others see only trash, pollution and increasing environmental concerns. Obviously, our outlooks on urban living are not quite so narrow. Even the simple and mundane elements of a city, from the pigeons in a street to the small marks etched into a public bench, all have some kind of impact on how we view and understand our urban landscapes. There are certain elements however, that are inherent in all of our cities. These are the elements we all recognize and see nearly everyday. These are the elements that connect us.
The goal of my terminal project is to create an image of a city that everyone can relate to in some way. In order to achieve this, I am creating conversation about the smaller elements in our cities that we oftentimes overlook, using an online-based project entitled, “Shared Urban Spaces” (SUS). http://joelmertz.net/sus.htm This global project invites people to examine their own urban environments through ten different photography-based assignments. Photographs are submitted to the project online where they are organized and displayed in onlnine galleries.
Individually, each photography assignment functions with its own unique purpose. Assignment no. 1 for instance, asks participants to take a picture of a security camera from their city. With this assignment I was trying to make people more aware of how often they are being watched, without perhaps even realizing it. The images from all ten assignments together however, serve a much different purpose. Together, these create an image of a city, one many people can recognize. Currently, the Shared Urban Spaces Project has over 600 submitted photographs and nearly 200 members. The finalized plan for displaying the collection of these photographs is to align them into a single row that will span around the gallery.
As a supplement to this project, I have created my own fantasy urban landscape based on photographs from the SUS Project, my personal photographs, and my own imagination. This fantasy city is a 12’ x 4’ drawing that attempts to convey the energy and commotion common in any major metropolis. The landscape is comprised of hundreds of colors and includes even the smallest details, like those examined in the SUS Project. The final installation of this drawing will utilize removable self-adhesive paper. After printing onto this paper, unique and unrefined shapes will be cut. Finally, these shapes will be collaged directly onto the gallery wall using the self-adhesive property of the paper. This technique is similar to the manner in which posters and fliers are plastered onto walls around the city. An additional time based element may be included with this mural.
