My project, High Five, involves covering the roofs of 5 downtown Austin, TX buildings with violet tarp material in order to show up on the satellite imagery provided to services such as Google Maps.
The proposal for High Five recently opened as part of Arthouse’s annual New American Talent exhibition. And by recently I mean a month ago, but c’mon who’s counting? If you haven’t seen it, the exhibition runs until August 20, 2006.

Initially, the proposal was a photoshopped version of the Google maps interface, that short-changed the interactive internet-accessible nature of the work’s experience. Instead, I imagine a person at home happening upon the project while using the mapping service to plan a trip to downtown Austin or scope out the fair city’s unstoppable loft culture. The single image was fine for a first draft, but not quite right.

This meant using the publically available Google Maps API to create a version of the proposal that could be used just like the real thing. Thanks to the work of intrepid developers and internet-posted code snippets, the proposal could take advantage of Google’s current satellite imagery. So, now you can play with the interactive proposal that is also available at Arthouse. And if you have an idea similar to this proposal, the source code is readily available for you to use for non-commercial purposes.

Technical Note: This proposal is formatted for the gallery’s 17inch flatscreen and has only been tested in Mac Safari and Ubuntu Linux’s Firefox.

Internet as Site…

I view this simultaneous presentation via internet and Arthouse as similar to the Non-sites of Robert Smithson, in which an earthwork is conceived in duality: inside and outside of the art space. High Five is to be made from the internet’s emergent informational systems just as some of Smithson’s earthworks were interventions made using the material of Earth’s naturally occurring processes. I think it is worth investigating this idea further because the contemporary art space’s role will be redefined by the internet and its globalized audience. Pictured: Smithson’s A Non-site (Franklin, New Jersey), 1968. © MCA, Chicago.

… And the kids are alright

“Juried group exhibits of new work are the art equivalent of ‘American Idol.’…Chang clearly has a pluralistic, democratic and inclusive outlook. Hence ‘New American Talent: 21′ is expansive, electric, even a little jumbled. It even feels a little messy, in a good way…”

XL Entertainment - Jeanne Claire Van Ryzin

nice take, a little too much ink spilt on the art world’s obsession with “best-of” exhibitions. really choice quote here though - “Like so much video work coming from young artists, what’s on those monitors is largely patience-trying, self-indulgent junk.” More at JCvR’s blog. - hc

“…[W]hat the show lacks in visual-fatigue space, it makes up for with sheer energy and a squeaky-clean installation….Hunter Cross, Rebecca Ward, and Michael Berryhill are among the standout artists from Austin. Cross contributes another proposal for an unrealized project, this time on Downtown Austin’s rooftops (he showed several more earlier this year with the artist collective Open Doors at the Dougherty Arts Center). He’d like to blanket the tops of four buildings that flank Arthouse, plus the exhibition space itself, with a field of bright violet color just long enough to be captured by a satellite and loaded onto Google Earth. Once Cross’ intervention entered the public record, High Five would disappear, leaving behind documentation accessible for around 18 months….At Arthouse, at least, you can catch a glimpse of what’s happening in the rest of the U.S.”

Austin Chronicle - Amanda Douberley

we noticed a lot of the same elements. your best-in-show was certainly a worthy piece, very nice and well made, but a love of minimalism has already gone so far…what’s her new work going to look like i wonder?…more by rebecca holland - hc

“One can also replace the word “newâ€? with “eidetic,â€? an impulse of pure visual manufacture, that, in this show comprised (mainly) of younger artists, can tellingly inform a viewer which established artists are on the kens of those exhibiting just as much as the inherent creativity resident in each of the younger artists themselves….But if you ask what this show actually means for the future, I can only tell you that I didn’t inhale.”

…might be good by James Bae

um…really? - hc

This interactive proposal would not have been possible without the help and encouragement of Leona Scull-Hons, Maegan Ellis, Justin Goldwater, Nathan Green, and Aimee Chang. Thank you.

Yeah, OK, but how long until the real thing appears?

Glad you asked. First, I need each building’s permission. One down four to go. After that, it’s up to the satellite imagery brokers. According to a representative at Digital Globe, “… it really depends on when a customer decides to have that area shot or we have an opening to speculatively shoot the area.” However, general net-stimates peg the time between satellite imagery updates at upwards of 18 months, so the tarp material covering each roof will need to be weather-proof and secure. Stay tuned and…

I’ll tell you ’bout what Google sees.

tags: googlemaps, software, google, maps, satellites, art, austin, texas, publicart, arthouse

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Thursday, July 20th, 2006 at 8:40 pm

topic: art