Voice of the Electric City, 2005 (Clevelander-Z)
Voice of the Electric City is the first interactive, surveillance installation developed by Patrick Lichty and Laura M. Rusnak (aka Clevelander-Z). For this installation, C-Z programmed a live video environment across two 10'x10' screens in an abandoned department store. An iSight webcam monitored the current scene on the street facing the installation, and processed it into an aesthetic line-drawing in real time.
video documentation
The live video information also drives various graphic elements, color and accesses a database of mined political blog information from prominent Cleveland weblogs of all ideologies. The third layer consists of a large collection of images taken of the surrounding city relating especially to areas mentioned in the blog information. In this way, C-Z seeks to find the 'voice of the electronic (digital) city' through live processing of its physical past (sites) its discursive present (blogs) and the immediate future (the unfolding scene around the site).
Tech: Digital texts, photography and video. Programmed in Keyworx.
Equipment: MAC mini, iSight webcam, two projectors and screens.