This untitled project was to be a vast networked artwork that operated across an entire chain of stores — a new way of doing public art, and potentially an ideal venue for Forest + Playground. While our conversations with a prominent international corporation advanced surprisingly far, eventually they fell short.

 

Public/private space

The old idea of “public space” is perhaps outmoded: the private mall has supplanted the town square; the mega-bookstore has replaced the public library. While these places are of course privately controlled and profit-seeking, they are where the public feels itself free to come & go, to mix & mingle. The question is whether public artwork can find a place in this privatized public space without becoming a mere vehicle for marketing.

We approached a large retail chain with a proposal to create a large network of interactive sites both within single stores and across the whole chain of stores. Our precondition was that the artwork not convey any advertisements or other marketing messages, but exist purely on its own.

 

Networked

We did identify a basic benefit to the chain, however, which was to increase the flow of pedestrian traffic not only to their stores, but more crucially within them.

Small interactive displays would be distributed throughout each store, both embedded in the floor and suspended three feet above eye-level. Each display node would be interconnected with the others, so that events initiated in one could continue in another.

This was to create the illusion of a continuous parallel world glimpsed through the circular portholes of the displays. As you explored the store space, this parallel world would disclose itself to you…even as you ascended the escalator (illus) to the next floor…

 

Interactivity

The displays were to be small enough to encourage a more intimate experience at close hand. Stepping close to a display would activate it for a short while: it would spring from a kind of slow-motion or partially suspended state into a brief spell of rapid activity before subsiding again.

Thematically, the world would be variant on Playground, with virtual children interacting with each other in forests, fields, and playgrounds. The figures and settings would all be generated in realtime, with an artificial intelligence program continually varying their patterns and interactions — thus offering shoppers a world of respite — a children’s forest in which their imaginations could wander off…