For those who may not know, this is biomapping:
[It] involves having subjects perambulate certain urban areas wearing finger cuffs that monitor on-the-fly emissions of galvanic skin response (GSR), the technology upon which the lie detector is founded. GSR is used to measure “electrodermal activity,” which is believed to correspond to the sympathetic nervous system; for example, when we are aroused by something, good or bad, we begin to sweat more (though not necessarily visibly), thus increasing the conductivity of electricity through our bodies. Because his GSR equipment is linked to a GPS, [one can] discern—and plot—precisely what things in the urban environment triggered physiological responses.
The “tool for visualizing people’s reactions to the external world,” which was invented by Christian Nold, a London-based artist, was inspired by psychogeography, a core situationist theory and practice. But psychogeography, the study of the relationship between emotions and features of urban space, never left the limits of fun and games. It was a great idea, and even a deep one, but it failed to produce a school of professionals or a unified body of serious research. Psychogeography never became more than a 20th century form of flaneurie.
Biomapping, on the other hand, has real political, academic, architectural, and commercial potential—indeed, Nold had to copyright the concept because marketers were too quick to exploit it. Information of this kind…
…information about how people internally experience or feel certain parts of the city is not just beautiful but very useful. To learn more about these potential uses, listen to this lecture by Nold. Or, if you have the time this Sunday, the device will be at the center of my little Hidmo talk about urban space, maps, and the mind—the mind being itself a map of the body.
As for Seattle? I imagine emotions rise at places like this:
The image of Columbia Tower is by Evocateur.
I’m skeptical.
A filthy alley populated by junkies may sit between two soaring skyscrapers… all depends where the camera is pointed.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Not his GPS coordinates.
Boy, that Finger Cuffs sure gets around…
This would work better in a completely flat city.
It’s true. Impotent rage is an emotion.
Charles, you are the only person I know of who actually LIKES that damn library building.
That’s not quite true; a lot of people like it. Not many of them are library users, it’s true, but it’s arguably Seattle’s most popular building right now.
Columbia Tower, on the other hand — he’s absolutely alone on that one. It’s the Death Star of Seattle architecture.
Wow, nice links you’ve provided. I should stop there, but have a great time giving your talk sunday Charles. The crowd I expect will be receptive, and even skeptical, but don’t pay mind, they’re just focusing on the negative when there is so much more to be appreciated about this sort of techno chicanery. Try not saying something stupid like “it’s been eight years since 9/11 and we still haven’t caught him” because idiots who write this sort of shit, who aren’t involved in catching bin Laden in any sort of tangible way, tend to say “we” a lot. So if you avoid that, people probably won’t be offended by being included in your “this is MY mind psycho-drama” (reading this back makes little sense, but so doesn’t sprinkling bong resin onto the sphincter of your BF before rimming the sacred muscle)
@ 6 – Yes it is too true, fnarf, because I said he’s the only one _I_ know of who likes it.
And, yes, this says more about me than it does Charles. :-/
All those things give me anxiety attacks.
Merry, you must know a lot of library users who’ve found the blank wall where the rest of the down escalator was supposed to be.
You can’t copyright a device.
You can patent it, or protect it by trade secret, but you definitely can’t copyright it.
This is nonsense.
I nominate Charles for “Stupid Credulous Hack of the Day”.
Love it! Love the library, too (though I hated it before I wen inside).
would debord be tickled?
*cough bullshit cough*
I always have a hard time remembering that we’re supposed to hate nice, non-beige things. Thats the hardest part about reading Slog.
@11, sorry “concept” not “device.”
These links are amazing. Thanks again for providing. And kudos to the apology, as if it was needed. The concept/device issue matters if you are an exploiter.
Biomapping, on the other hand, has real political… and commercial potential
For the likes of people like the Stranger and its particular minions this is a light bulb for said exploit(ation). I particularly like Greenwich, useful for hobbyists like myself, in a variety of tasks beyond, perhaps more precisely predating, ideology.
@11 blaaahhhhh i work in an ip firm and it’s conceptually the same thing, so don’t be such a poop-face. honest mistake.
kinda cool but, charles, i always took you for the type more interested in subjective experience, as conveyed through words, images, poetry, than a celebrant of reductionist science. or maybe you’re not celebrating, just presenting; i can’t tell.
anyhow, i’m still amazed at the continued effort to technologize every aspect of our lives. this sort of work hardly belongs in the realm of art or architecture but, rather, in the marketing department.
I don’t get the hate for the Columbia Center building. It’s distinctive, it’s tall, it’s sleek (and, yes, dominating) but it’s not a tall flat box either – it’s got sexy curves and it’s got distinctive pieces to it. Something tells me that if it were made in sandstone color with blueish green glass instead of black, people would love it.
20, I prefer more details on buildings (my favorite skyscraper in Seattle is the Washington Mutual Tower) but, as minimalist skyscrapers go, you’re right about Columbia Center. It has the sections that are staggered in height and the curves so it’s not a typical international-style bland box. I just don’t like the black color. Along with the height, it just makes the building too ominous-looking.