EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED, AFTER ALL ISN’T IT

Commissioned by the Futuresonic Festival in 2007 as part of “Art for Shopping Centres”

Everything really is connected, after all is an emergent narrative based on movement and proximity. Project participants wander with one of five characters as part of a flock of mobile devices whose coincidental intersection triggers awareness and contemplation about the bigger picture.
Shopping centers are sites of consumption which despite their varied locations across the globe tend to share the same anonymous and homogenous features. As a backdrop for desire, projection, and the acquisition of material objects, the Arndale and the experience of shopping is explored in order to locate and find experiences and concerns that bind us together in small and large ways.

The project utilizes a wireless network infrastructure delivered through mobile body-mounted units. The unfolding narrative is intended to structurally resonate with the relative physical positioning and actions of those experiencing the work. Ambiguity and elision are emphasized in the piece, highlighting a culture of connectivity which often hints at a greater whole, but often eludes full apprehension.

Deploying a piece in a site like the Arndale is a rare opportunity, and ideally the technology employed recedes into the background. But in some way, should awareness of the network and its operational characteristics become a consideration in a participant’s experience, the title of the project would certainly then find its true embodiment.