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Experiment 4 — Related Works: Crown Heights Mic (2013)

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Background

As part of the Creation & Computation course, each student submitted 5 experiments in creative computing. To accompany our explorations, we were tasked with selecting one work or grouping of works (artwork, design project, research artifact, technology innovation, etc.) that was related to the theme or tools of the current experiment.

The theme for Experiment 4 was Shared Spaces, and we learned how to use PubNub with p5.js.

The following post gives an overview of the work I selected, and how it relates to the theme. If you would like to see what I created for Experiment 4, check out my post on "Beacons".

Table of Contents

Description of the work

The Crown Heights Mic was a broadcast network built collaboratively by neighbourhood residents and stakeholders in Crown Heights, NY. Through several sound funnels scattered around the area, they were able to hear the health of the neighbourhood through each other's voices. These sound funnels were planted on the side of buildings and were strategically mapped in front of sites where residents already congregated--libraries, religious centres, and schools. This network created an anonymous and safe forum that was used, determined, and sustained by those present and on the streets.

The project's three guiding principles were the following:

  1. Collaboration over an individual producer

  2. Prioritizing the voices of audiences that are artistically and politically under-represented

  3. The setting is fundamental to the project

Crown Heights Mic was Salome Asega's MFA in Design and Technology at the Parson School of Design. Here's a video of an early prototype created during Asega's thesis year (2013-2-14):

 

How this relates to Experiment 4

Experiment 4, "Shared Spaces", looks at multi-user systems: messages and filters. Although Crown Heights Mic isn't a multiplayer online game, it shares a similar logic as the framework used for this experiment. Much like PubNub allows publishers to send messages and subscribe to channels to receive messages, Asega's project compels residents and stakeholders to send messages using their voice, and these messages are shared with other community members, kind of like a guerrilla/pirate radio. Crown Heights Mic is an interesting take on a rudimentary form of communication, carrying the voice and message further than traditional means, in the same way that PubNub carries these digital messages to destinations across the world.

Asega working on the project

Creator of the work

Salome Asega (she/her) is an artist, educator, and researcher whose practice celebrates dissent and multivocality. She believes it’s important to share access to arts and tech institutions and spaces with others and would classify herself as a public interest technologist. Many of her projects involve a participatory or collaborative process, grounded in conversations where participants are making certain conceptual or design decisions.

Works Cited


Asega, Salome. 2018. “What Happens When Artists Use Tech to Confront Inequality?” Equals Change Blog - Ford Foundation (blog). August 14, 2018. https://www.fordfoundation.org/ideas/equals-change-blog/posts/what-happens-when-artists-use-tech-to-confront-inequality/ 

———. 2020. “About.” Portfolio. Salome_asega. 2020. http://www.salome.zone/about 

———. n.d. “Crown Heights Mic.” Salome_asega. Accessed November 25, 2020. http://www.salome.zone/themic 

Bradbury, Victoria, and Suzy O’Hara. 2019. Art Hack Practice: Critical Intersections of Art, Innovation and the Maker Movement. Routledge.
Dee, Christa. 2018. “Artist and Researcher Salome Asega on Multivocality, Dissensus and a Speculative Lens.” Bubblegum Club Magazine. June 1, 2018. https://bubblegumclub.co.za/art-and-culture/artist-and-researcher-salome-asega-on-multivocality-dissensus-and-a-speculative-lens/ 

Henrick, Chris. 2014. “Been There, Done That.” MFA DT Thesis Blog (blog). August 28, 2014. http://clhenrick.github.io/thesis-blog/precedents/2014/08/28/been-there-done-that/ 

Parson’s MFAD+T. 2014. “Salome Asega - MFAD+T Thesis Show 2014.” MFAD+T Thesis Show 2014 (blog). May 17, 2014. http://mfadt.parsons.edu/2014/ 

Sidewalk Assembly. 2014. “#desoldering #crownheightsmic http://t.co/0w17lQhs3u.” Tweet. @SidewalkCrew (blog). April 26, 2014. https://twitter.com/SidewalkCrew/status/460142651833331712/photo/1 

 

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