SUMMER READING: |
THE URBAN VISUAL RECORDING MACHINE When Creative Time decided to print its first major book celebrating 33 years of bringing art throughout NYC, we knew it would have to be a an experimental project itself that would capture the essence of the organization.
Much like the hundreds of artworks that initiated conversation between artists, sites, and audiences, the public’s involvement in this book was key. The outrageously provocative designers, Hjalti Karlsson and Jan Wilker of karlssonwilker inc., conceived of a book cover that became a site-specific public art project.
The Urban Visual Recording Machine (UVRM) was a set of equipment housed in a truck reminiscent of a “pope mobile” with its large Plexiglas windows. The machines were programmed to record the colors, volume of sound and voices, and weather (wind speed and direction, temperature, and humidity) of each individual location for that moment in time. The data was instantly transcribed into an abstract visual representation of the environment, with graphic shapes and patterns created by the designers and Show & Tell Productions, and printed out on site with the time and date. Every 30 seconds, for 5 days from September 6-10, 2006, the truck traveled to locations of signature Creative Time projects: Times Square, Chelsea, the East Village, Coney Island, The Art Parade in Soho, and Lower Manhattan. 5,000 book covers, each capturing a moment in NYC, were instantaneously printed on site for Creative Time: The Book, bringing together new technology with artistic vision. |