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#garden

Craig Fahner (Montréal, QB)
Curated by Byron Rich (Calgary, AB)
Runs from October 5, 2009 through to December 3, 2009
Closing reception: Thursday, November 19 at 7:00 PM

#garden is a piece that investigates the social media impulse. Several potted plants are set up in the exhibition space, rigged with electronic sensors and a water pump. Based on sensor data, the #garden will communicate its mood nightly via Twitter, a social media "microblogging" platform. Twitter users can give the #garden water by responding to its posts.

Over 50,000 Twitter messages are posted per hour. These messages may include political statements, eyewitness journalism, or mindless expressions of boredom — all on the same page. Cast-off thoughts of movie stars, and reminders from family members appear side by side. Twitter achieves this kind of democracy only by limiting its users: each post must be no longer than 140 characters. This limit of expression is the great equalizer.

#garden disrupts the limiting nature of social media by bringing it off of the screen. Interactions with the #garden, rather than being lost in a sea of fleeting transmissions, cause a physical response by contributing to a tangible community garden. Participants can communally support the garden, or via the impulsiveness of social media, drown and destroy it.

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To interact with #garden, please visit http://www.twitter.com/twtrgrdn, and type either "water" or "light" to keep it growing.

 

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Craig Fahner

Craig Fahner is an artist who lives between Montreal and Calgary. A student of Concordia University's Intermedia/Cyberarts program, he is interested in reconstituting technologies to create artworks. Co-founder of the Sensorium Lab at the University of Calgary, his research interests include kinesthetic and non-cognitive interaction, biofeedback art and indeterminancy.

When not working with technology and art, Craig works on his vegetable garden in his Calgary backyard.

Byron Rich

Born in Calgary, Byron recently earned a BFA from the U of C where he researched multimedia art production. In his emerging practice, he focuses upon disseminating his environmentally based ideals, particularly the notion of separation between our societal collective identity, and our biological reality. Byron's ideas regarding sustainability, and environmental awareness are manifest through photography, painting, digital media, and interactive installations.

The +15 Window Project is located in the EPCOR Centre for the Performing Arts +15 pedestrian walkway, 235 - 9th Ave SE
For more information about the +15 Window Project Space Submissions or Programming, contact the gallery.