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An interactive and computational project that I find inspirational is Subtitled Public by electronic artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, completed in 2005. This installation consists of an empty space equipped with projectors and a computerized surveillance system that detects visitors who enter into this space. The system generates a random verb for each person who enters and projects it onto him/her. If a person touches another, their words get exchanged; hence encouraging people to interact with one another and the art.
I admire this project because of its purpose/intention. The piece comments on society’s excessive use of surveillance systems for safety and its profiling of the public based on ethnic groups and other characteristics. It also makes a statement on the branding of individuals by assigning them random words.
Many other projects by Lozano-Hemmer also involve words to describe a viewer. The arbitrary placement of text on the viewers allow them to experience the positive and negative connotations of the words places upon them.
