In december 2011 the BLINK project proposal was granted with an Art&D-project grant of the IBBT (in Ghent, Belgium). This is a yearly program of project grants for artists (individuals or collectives) for projects that include ICT research (and collaboration with researchers) as a core element. This years theme was “Augmented Cities” For realisation of the project I will work with Pieterjan De Potter from MMlab of the University of Ghent and Prof. Dr. Olga van Oost from IBBT-SMIT of the University of Brussels. The project will start in january 2012 and it will end in december 2012.
1) SHORT DESCRIPTION
Blink is an interactive concept inspired by Chatroulette. Digital domain and public space are played off against one another to reveal social codes. The concept is as follows: Several computers are located in a public space. Together the computers form a network. Each computer displays a random web-cam image deriving from one of the computers within the network. When users blink their eyes, the display switches to another random web-cam image within the network.
The BLINK concept will be translated to an intervention in public space, (in form of an installation) and later on perhaps to an app for a tablet-computer or smart-phone. The final form of implementation depends on the results of social research and the technical capabilities.
2) ARTISTIC MOTIVATION
2.1) Artistic Goal
With the ‘BLINK’ project, I want to create an artistic experiment. It is about social relations in physical public space and digital public space. By staging an unusual interaction between those two, I want to create a new perspective. The aim is to let users perceive the influence that technology has on their behavior. Because this aspect of influence usually remains hidden in daily life. I want to achieve this by:
User interface > By letting the interface respond to eye-blinking This way the users do not have entire control over what happens. Because eye-blinking can happen both conscious and unconsciously. Therefore the user experience will partially exist of a sense of control [which is key for an interface] but also of a sense of endurance. It is alright if this causes a little awkwardness: When someone is getting the feeling of being forced into something, one becomes more aware of the actual implications. So this sense of endurance might cause more alertness and awareness among the users.
Scale > By retaining a small-scaled network and situate it in a public space This will provoke a confrontation amongst users towards their attitude regarding the two different forms of public realm: As a user of BLINK it is legitimate to make contact with a complete stranger. But what if there was a probability you would meet the person in real life?
2.2 ) State of the Art
To place the BLINK idea in a context, I will tell something about what motivates me to do things the way I do them. I am fascinated by coherence, patterns and processes. As an artist, I started as a sculptor, but I have gradually developed myself more and more towards media art. Meanwhile I make interactive installations and I work a lot with open-source software. Therefore, my fascinations [for coherence, patterns and processes] more and more transferred into a fascination for social processes.
A flock of starlings is a good illustration of what fascinates me. I think that we are just like the starlings. In our society there are a hole bunch of tendencies and processes that occur simultaneously. There are rules and habits and we are continuously influenced by all kinds of things. Most of it we don’t even notice. Nevertheless , without being aware of it, we form a whole. To look at myself and others in a new way, I frequently work with ICT and new media. I find these interesting tools to work with, because they play a very prominent role in our lives.
2.3) Where dit the BLINK idea came from?
The idea for BLINK derived from the Matchmaker 1.0 project. This was a cooperation between me and Eva van der Velden. The project was intended to investigate communication via heartbeat. The Matchmaker 1.0 selects a ‘match’ by comparing the participants’ heartbeats to each other. When two or more participants are in the same cadence, a line is displayed between them. When designing this system we wondered whether participants would be willing to reveal themselves. In practice people did not object. On the contrary, people didn’t mind at all. By participating in the installation people became more open and dared to have a chat with strangers they didn’t knew. In this case, the medium between the people caused people to be more open to each other. The medium functioned as a mask. So paradoxically, a certain distance can result in more openness. This is the starting point of the BLINK concept. This phenomenon can also bee seen in the use of multimedia. The overcoming of distances, is intrinsically creating a new distance. Take social media for example: We are influenced by those in the same way: The distance causes more openness. We share more with more people. But do we really connect? And does it make us more social? Another extreme example for this this phenomenon is Chatroulete. The BLINK concept has some clear similarities with it. It’s bizarre to see what people are capable of when you give them a web-cam and you let them communicate with a stranger on the other side of the world. It seems like all shame disappears. Hence, Chatroulette is a platform for the most common and basic scenes imaginable. In Chatroulette, the other really remains ‘another’. He is degraded to a screen far away, someone you do not have to worry about. To which you can say and do anything because it doesn’t matter. Where Chatroulette stops, I want to take another step ahead. I want to get closer to the users’ skin by the use of bio-feedback [eye-blinking] and by changing the scale.
3) THE RESEARCH
3.1) Summary artistic motivation:
The emphasis of the BLINK project lies in creating a user-interface that fits the user so close to the skin that it makes him think. This interface is used to create an urban intervention in which public space and digital domain are played off against one another.
3.2) Innovation Challenge:
The biggest challenge in this project is to create an urban intervention that influences the environment in a positive way by causing more awareness and stimulate social contact between people.
3.3 ) The trajectory:
First, a pilot version of the software must be developed. This will happen at the Multimedia Lab from the University of Ghent, under supervision of Pieterjan De Potter. After a first version with a very basic interface is developed, we can submit the installation to some test persons, by organizing an intervention in public space. Together with Prof. Dr. Olga van Oost of IBBT SMIT of the University of Brussels, I will do participative studies and observations. This approximately will happen somewhere around September 2012. The results of the research are going to be published and in the future they might be incorporated in a second R&D cycle.
