The Creators Project: Times Square will become a giant, heat-sensitive camera every night this month, from 11:57 PM to midnight. Created by artist Peggy Ahwesh, City Thermogram unveils both NYC's electrical grid and the heat signatures of the human bodies that crowd its streets onto many of the largest billboards in the area.
7 comments:
This is really cool! I think it's a brilliant thought to look closely at what are usually just indistinguishable crowds. In a world that is becoming less and less personal, I think it's a lovely idea to look at something as intimate as the heat in someone's body in a place as large and often swallowing as Times Square. I can't quite tell from the article exactly how this would happen, but I think it would be quite interesting to give a shot of two strangers in the same screen, where they could see that they are both made up of the same heat. It's a really cool thought that we might have something to visually boil down just how similar we all are, and I think it would really draw ties between people in the middle of all the hustle and bustle of New York.
The heat scan is both interesting and....creepy, in my opinion. I don't know if it's the thousands of spy movies that I have seen that are making me feel this way, but I can't help but see people in heat wave colors and feel like we are all being watched by the NSA or something. But I digress. Having the cameras come on late at night could be very interesting; there are definitely more tourists around at that time of morning than you would usually suspect, but not enough that the camera can not pick up a certain individual or two. Other than being really cool and a visual experience for tourists, I do not seem to understand the meaning behind the art exhibit. Is it to show that we're all the same? Is it just some sort of trippy experience that rivals the lights and fanfare of Times Square? I'm not really sure. I guess, if it's still around, when I go home I'll make the pilgrimage and see what the hype is about. Perhaps when it's so large and projected all around you it creates a feeling that can't be described with words. I'll just wait and see, I guess.
There's something really poetic about capturing "the life blood of Times Square" and revealing pedestrians' "energy potential" through these heat cameras. ...But Ms. Ahwesh, what do you want viewers to do with that potential? Is this a love letter to NYC through its characteristic energy? Is it an environmentalist statement about energy use in the electronics and the "devices we rely on?" Is it an inspiring call to tap into one's potential energy? I'm really bothered by the idea of purposeless art, especially when it exists on such a large and expensive scale. (How much did all the companies who own the billboards want to compensate for their loss of advertising space?) There's nothing wrong with art that leaves the interpretation up to the viewer, but don't talk about it like you have "no particular goal" for the project. And furthermore, art is more effective when it elicits an emotional reaction, and then gives the audience an immediate means to act on that emotion. Otherwise, whatever feeling is conjured by a heat-sensitive camera in Times Square will dissipate and be forgotten.
I think this is a really interesting installation. I always find large-scale urban installations incredibly intriguing because of the scope of their project and their ability to make highly visible commentary on a location. My favorite urban installation I’ve heard about was the balloons in Berlin that outlined where the former wall once stood. Installations like that make you think about the dynamics of a local, how we interact, how we’ve changed as a society and about our overall humanity. I think all good urban installations follow these goals, and that’s why I have mixed feelings about this one in particular. The heat signatures definitely illustrate the bustling potential of New Yorkers, their illuminating energy, and the lively blood flow of the city, but at the same time I think the project fails to see that the grand metaphor falls short if you limit the displays to a selection of prerecorded footage rather a live feed. The average citizen can't experience the sensation of being part of a larger living system and having inert potential spewing from their body without the capabilities of live feed. I think the project sounds like a exciting installation that had promise to become an amazing installation that unfortunately falls just short of the mark.
I think this is very interesting. Most people do not think about how much body heat they are giving off or how many people are actually around them. This is a cool installation that actually shows the amount of body heat being let off and all of the heat sources in Time Square. It will be cool if you can spot yourself on the screens and compare yourself to other people based on your color sensor. It would be cool to see two people hug and see if the heat sensor notices the heat increasing between them. It would be interesting to sit and watch the screens for the entire 3 minutes that it is happening and see all of the movement in the city. Most people do not just stand still in the city and take in all the sights around them because everyone is in a hurry. If you stopped for a moment to actually notice all of the craziness going on around you it would be pretty eye opening. Seeing all of this movement in the form of heat sensors is very interesting because different people will have different colors and shades.
I sometimes question some installations because sometimes they just look and seem bizarre. If I had seen this going on in Times Square not knowing what it was about, I would have probably been thinking that someone hacked into the mainframe, and is now goofing off. Also, a little creepy vibe to it. You’re being recorded. I mean sure, you are up on the big screens, but it’s not your everyday happenstance. I do think that this makes for a unique installation because of how it is able to magnify and show how much energy is being used around us. Heat is just another one of those daily expenditures, and by being more aware, maybe not so much about ourselves, but about the amount of consumption that we use daily, we could conserve a bit more. Now that this installation is there this month, at least you know that you’ve got three minutes to possibly get on camera and say that you were up in Times Square. Not too many people can say they’ve done that.
Okay, so first off, this whole concept does seem to give off a bit of a stalker vibe. But projecting massive videos of people taken with hidden cameras will always have a very stalker-y feel. That being said, I really like the idea of this installation. With all the recent issues surrounding race, gender, and sexuality, I think this installation does a lot to represent that we are all humans, we are all warm bodies and most importantly, for the most part, we are all the same. Seeing the life blood of time square is a great way to show that individually we all create this amazing city. It conflates humans into one species. And with what's been going on recently. I think it is what we need right now.
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