ARTIST: Future Cities Lab (Jason Kelly Johnson, Nataly Gattegno, Ripon DeLeon with Jeff Maeshiro, Collin Schupman, Ji Ahn)
Project Team: Ripon DeLeon, Jeff Maeshiro, Collin Schupman, Ji Ahn, Elaine Suh, Greg Hurcomb, Evan Moring, Zach Fish, Ben Ward, Nainoa Cravalho
ARTWORK/YEAR: Murmur Wall (2015)
REGION: North America
RESEARCHER: Fabio Vanin
“WHAT WILL THE CITY AROUND US BE THINKING, SEEING AND FEELING IN THE NEAR FUTURE? HOW WILL ITS DESIRES AND FEARS MANIFEST? WHAT WILL BE MOST IMPORTANT?”
Offering a glimpse into the immediate future, the Murmur Wall is an artificially intelligent, anticipatory architecture that reveals what the city is whispering, thinking and feeling. By proactively harvesting local online activity—via search engines and social media—the Murmur Wall anticipates what will soon matter most to the city.
As a continuously evolving interface, the Murmur Wall provides a place for the city to share, indulge and reflect on the real-time desires and anxieties of its citizens. Related words to the top-searched-online-terms are presented on the screens providing a layered view of topics that people are inquiring about, curious about and wanting to know more of. This data is harvested from a 1Km radius, providing a view into what locals want to know more about, what matters to them most now and what may be of importance in the future.
Constructed out of an intricate weave of steel and acrylic tubing, digital displays and electronics, the Murmur Wall allows visitors to witness streams of data weaving through the wall in the form of animated LED light and digital text displays. One may also contribute their “whispers” online [www.murmurwall.net], allowing momentary words to be immediately interjected onto the wall. These real-time anonymous contributions are akin to tagging the city with urban graffiti. The whispers move rapidly through the lattice as bright white datastreams; they appear only once and are not collected, reused or shared.
Murmur Wall has been installed in San Francisco, Palo Alto and Milan, becoming a source of information and potentially a place to voice concerns and opinions in the public realm. It creates a place for gathering, conversation and debate in the city … one that has been lost as we look into our phones and pocket digital displays for information that matters.
As a continuously evolving interface, the Murmur Wall provides a place for the city to share, indulge and reflect on the real-time desires and anxieties of its citizens. Related words to the top-searched-online-terms are presented on the screens providing a layered view of topics that people are inquiring about, curious about and wanting to know more of. This data is harvested from a 1Km radius, providing a view into what locals want to know more about, what matters to them most now and what may be of importance in the future.
Image Credits: Peter Prato
All copyright belongs to Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, Shanghai University.
