The Rhythm of City. Geo-located Social Data as an Artistic Medium

Varvara Guljajeva and Mar Canet Sola (2011)

Abstract

The growing amount of user-generated data is a sign for the society’s participation and dependence on digital networks. Net services keep coming up with compelling social applications that offer us new possibilities for connecting to each other, sharing images, videos, expressing our moods, thoughts, etc. Not surprisingly the rapid development of technology and cyber culture are mirrored as well in art. The virtual environment is an inspiration and as well a working medium for many creative people. The aims of the paper are to introduce our approach for applying geo-located social data as a significant part of our artwork, and to elaborate on the artworks that are addressing similar topic. By describing The Rhythm of City art piece we point out an innovative and artistic way for applying geo-located social data as a score. At the same time, the data represents a city’s pace of life. The goal is to metaphorically describe locations by extracting geo-tagged content and translating it into the rhythm of a physical metronome in real time. In short, a metronome represents a city. The installation consists of 10 modified metronomes whose rhythms correspond to the selected cities’ digital pace of life. The audience is given a chance to discover and experience an alternative way of perceiving different locations through a continuous performance of 10 metronomes. Our concerns are about the malleability of the digital world to the physical one, and the interpretation of social data for artistic purposes.

Venue: ISEA, Istanbul September 2011.