Creative Synthesis

The effects of mobility on life in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, as well as concerns about the connection between energy consumption and changing conceptualizations of space and distance, inspired a multi-faceted collaborative art project developed under the guidance of Ryan Griffis and Claude Willey and hosted by greenmuseum.org.  The collection of works, Conducting Mobility, provides snapshot overviews of energy policy, the cultural role played by transportation, and the economic effects of changes in the transportation infrastructure.  This background leads provides a foundation for the individual works.  Each explores the ways in which energy and transportation are implicated in all aspects of life, approaching the subject through visual and performance art and through newer forms such incorporating remote sensing and web plug-ins.

Two works in particular use radically different techniques to give viewers a visceral sense of energy use and scale.  Running along the route recommended by public safety officials, kanarinka’s “It Takes 154,000 Breaths to Evacuate Boston“ reflects the paradoxical yet long-established connection between fear and development in the American mind, providing an immediate sense of not only the scale of a modern city but also a reminder of the physical fear caused by terrorism–a feeling of being trapped and threatened by contemporary life.  Moving from the immediacy of flight-or-fight,  Michael Mandiberg’s “Oil Standard” uses a FireFox plug-in to convert any US dollar amount appearing on a web page into the equivalent value in barrels of oil.