On Beyond Locative Media by Mark Tuters and Kazys Varnelis:

"Since its inception, then, locative media's practitioners have claimed an avant-garde position, insisting that their work is capable of not only creating a paradigmatic shift in the art world, but also that it can reconfigure our everyday life as well by renewing our sense of place in the world."

Its interesting to think of locative media as art since every time i even begin to describe this class to fellow peers all i get are a bunch of blank faces =| However, once i give them time to wrap their heads around it there's this complete shift of consciousness that i've never experienced before when talking about other art forms. There's sort of this free thinking that occurs when realizing the possibilities are limitless with what you can do. Over time i have come to realized that what's more appealing to me, specifically, is gathering information, or as the Tuters and Varnelis article puts it - phenomenological mapping.

"Broadly speaking, locative media projects can be categorized under one of two types of mapping, either annotative—virtually tagging the world—or phenomenological—tracing the action of the subject in the world."

There are so many things i want to learn about other people in the area, where they eat, what galleries they go to, where's their favorite clothing store. I'm completely curious and nosy as to where all my friends (and even strangers) go. If i could i would love to compile several trails of where other people wander and have them each make their own "playlist" if you will, of different city favorites and common hang out spots, similar to the Urban Tapestries Project, however much more personal. The only thing is you have to deal with a noted invasion of privacy. To some people that's kind of a big deal... so the way this information would have to be displayed would probably work best when interfaced with a networking site where such sensitive information could be monitored.

"This is a central question for locative media today, as it is for many contemporary artists today who are using research and development, or at least research, as models. Raised on a steady diet of institutional critique, this generation sees art’s purview as transdisciplinary and eagerly pursues projects that could be classified as research (Center for Land Use Interpretation or Multiplicity) or design and development (Andrea Zittel or Jorge Pardo)."

It seems like there is a problem with defining whether this is art or research, but why can't it be both? Like the first quote i mentioned, locative media changes how a person reacts and feels to space. With presenting someone the personal "trail" of another being, its up to the viewer to interpret it and decide what to do with the information. Personally, i would love to share how i would interpret the trails, however, i'm sure i'll have time to come back and reflect on my idea's more with the up coming readings.

Labels: locative media, trails