37° 29' 59"N, 118° 10' 06"W”
From the beginning, I wanted to introduce a unique concept into a different environment using analog and digital computation in navigation. After getting re-inspired by certain locative media art projects such as 34 North 118 West, however, I decided to base the concept of my project on a hybrid metamedium created by combining fictional narratives, digital image manipulation, and locative media. Putting anecdotes, which describe a sequence of real or unreal events with digitally altered images, together with media of communication that is bound to a location created a unique form of hybrid art. My project can be simply described as a virtual tour of White Mountain Region. However, it consists of the fictional narratives of the past, present, and future of a certain location accompanied with related images in the region.
Fig. 1. Documenting “The Making of 37° 29' 59"N, 118° 10' 06"W”
As it was mentioned above, my project is closely related to many precedents, especially to 34 North 118 West by artists, Jeff Knowlton, Naomi Spellman, and Jeremy Hight. This project focuses on site-specific experimental works utilizing digital media, computation, and Internet resources. The project maps out four selected blocks of Los Angeles with fictional narratives from the past that are triggered by the latitude and longitude of a location. The audience has to do move around these “hot spots” with a specially designed slate laptop with GPS (Global Positioning System) capability to access these narratives.
Fig. 2. Artists Jeff Knowlton and Naomi Spellman testing 34 North 118 West Project.
In “Views From Above: Locative Narrative and the Landscape,” the
author Jeremy Hight states, “Artists have long searched for
ways to move art into the streets from the galleries and museums.
The philosophies of these desires resonate in the current emerging
field of locative narrative.” (Hight) The concept of
locative narrative, which Hight describes, heavily applies to my
project. However, digital imaging and performance aspects differ
my project from other locative narratives.
Even though my project can be simply described as a virtual tour, there
are several aspects to this project.
The virtual tour bases the White Mountain Research Station as a starting
point, and the other locations of the tour have been selected based on the
geographical features of the sites. Knowing that there were not many major
historical events took place in White Mountain Region, the fictional narratives
for selected locations largely based their resources on the research of historical
events that happened around the area at the time. The narratives of
the events created consist of examples of cultural and historical anecdotes
from the Piute Native American Tribe that occupied the White Mountain Region
and stories about critters and their habitats.
Most of the sites were selected based on unique landscapes and the
resources found in the natural environment. For example, one site containing
three rocks with extraordinary markings was used to represent the rock-art
left by the Paiute Native American tribe through digital image alteration. As “The
Archeology of Rock-Art” by Hartley & Vawser states, “the
location of rock-art and its relationship to natural environment have a long
history.” (Pg. 188, Harley & Vawser) From early forms of
rock-art such as northern Hohokam rock-art in Colorado River drainage area
to land artworks such as Spiral Jetty by Robert Smithson, artworks using
natural resources came a long way, and I have incorporated this aspect to
my project through digital image manipulation.
The past and future images have been shot on location and digitally
altered after the trip. These images required participation of
some peers from the course to dress up in provided costumes and
props to bring different historical and cultural views to the site.
While bringing a performance aspect to the project, these images
will not be literal representation of the narratives. A mechanism
called, “Time Pole” has been added to the final flash representation
to indicate the year, month, and day of the image.
Fig. 3. Time Pole is an essential tool to divide the fictional narratives into three different time aspects: past, present, and future.
As outcomes of this project, the website that includes the virtual tour of the selected locations of White Mountain Region is located below. Each chosen site will be mapped out on the region map with their GPS coordinates. These locations are supplemented with fictional narratives with suitable digitally altered images for different time periods.
In addition, a WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) version of this tour will be provided for the audience in near future, who wants to experience the narratives at the site using GPS enabled mobile phone. The WAP version of the tour will only consist of narratives, and should work on most mobile phones supporting GPS capability.
Fig. 4. GPS-enabled mobile phones will be able to access 37° 29' 59"N, 118° 10' 06"W in near future.
The performance part of the project has been recorded using a Canon Digital ELPH PowerShot SD700 IS and JVC standard Mini-DV Camcorder, and edited to be uploaded on a popular Youtube.com for additional documentation.
After completing all the tasks to make this project work, there were several aspects that did not happen as they were originally planned. Notably, making land art only using resources that can be found in the natural environment of the selected sites was truncated in order to reveal the non-fictional narratives of the sites in present times. Even though the project obtained the most peer support out of all the projects, some of the prepared fictional narratives had to be altered to compensate the limited peer support on the performance aspect of the project.
At the end of the day, the concept of locative narrative combined with digital imaging and performance art made me realize that nature always has its own way of telling its story. Even if artists like me try to create fictional narratives based on natural evidence that one might find in specific locations, only the Mother Nature will know what exactly happened in those sites. Even if nothing interesting happens in nature to human eyes, it is always changing every hour, every minute, and every second of the day. As it can be personified as a storyteller, nature’s past, present, and future is beyond our imagination.
View Project 37° 29' 59"N, 118° 10' 06"W
View The Making of 37° 29' 59"N, 118° 10' 06"W (Youtube)
ANDREW KIM
Andrew Kim is an emerging graphic designer, who is attending University of California, San Diego. His works mainly consist of freelance jobs in graphic design, web design, publicity campaign deisgn for notable organizations like IDEO, UCSD, and Cesar E. Chavez Foundation. Expecting to graduate in 2008, he plans to move to New York, where he can further his passion and career.