Hello All,<br><br>Trebor Scholz has asked me to write a post introducing
two recent projects,"Oil Standard" (2006), "Real Costs" which I releasd
a beta version of last week.<br><br>"Real Costs" is a Firefox plug-in
that inserts emissions data into travel related e-commerce websites.
The first version adds CO2 emissions information to airfare websites
such as <a href="http://orbitz.com/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">Orbitz.com</a>
, <a href="http://united.com/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">United.com</a>, <a href="http://delta.com/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">Delta.com
</a>, etc. Following versions will work with car directions, car
rental, and shipping websites. Think of it like the nutritional
information labeling on the back of food... except for emissions. <br><br>The objective of the "Real Costs" is to increase awareness of
the environmental impact of certain day to day choices in the life of
the Internet user. By presenting this environmental impact information
in the place where decisions are being made, it will hopefully create
an impact on the viewer, encourage a sense of individual agency, start
ongoing discussions, and provide a set of alternatives and immediate
actions. In the process the user/viewer might even be transformed from
passive consumer to engaged citizen.
<br><br>Experience the project by installing the "Real Costs" plug-in into your Firefox application; the plug-in is available at <a href="http://therealcosts.com/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
http://TheRealCosts.com</a>.
Currently, this plug-in pulls the origination and destination
information for each flight from the page, and then calculates and
reinserts the CO2 produced. It compares the CO2 produced for that
flight to making that trip by bus or train, and to the average CO2
produced per capita for the average US and world citizen. It is
configured to work on the websites of the largest North American air
carriers (major global air carriers are currently being added.) A list
of these carriers and documentation of all scientific calculations is
available on the project Wiki (
<a href="http://therealcosts.com/wiki" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://therealcosts.com/wiki</a>).<br><br>"Real
Costs" builds on many of my prior investigations into intersections
between conceptualism, Internet art, and activism. I make art that
explores the way the Internet shapes subjectivity and consumerism. I
take common genres including e-commerce, blogs and opinion poll sites
and create site-specific interventions into this digital vernacular to
provoke a moment of contemplation on the part of the viewer. The key
example here is the "Oil Standard" (
<a href="http://transition.turbulence.org/Works/oilstandard/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://transition.turbulence.org/Works/oilstandard/</a>)
Firefox plug-in that converts all prices on a web page from U.S.
Dollars into the equivalent value in barrels of crude oil. When you
load a web page, the script seamlessly inserts converted prices into
the page. As the cost of oil fluctuates on the commodities exchange,
prices rise and fall in real-time causing the user to reflect on their
relationship to the abstract fluctuation of the price of oil reported
on the news everyday. "Oil Standard" synthesized my interest in
hactivism and net.art, sustainable economics, and information design to
create an art piece that opened up a dialogue about oil, economics, and
the environment. It was used and discussed by eco-techies, high school
classes, progressive politicians, and Internet artists. This project
achieved the goal of making abstract information legible so as to
create dialogue about the important issues surrounding how we use the
earth's natural resources.
<br><br>"Real Costs" and "Oil Standard" very intentionally sit in the
liminal spaces between art and design, between hactivism and software
development, and between situationist intervention and green-tech tool
making. I have situated this project in this position at the edge of
art because it allows me to present completely unexpected content in
familiar forms. The goal is to seduce the viewer through what appears
to be a comfortable and usual situation and to create an experience of
surprise and wonder. I have done this before, in "Shop Mandiberg", (
<a href="http://mandiberg.com/shop" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://Mandiberg.com/shop</a>) where I buit an e-commerce site as a container for self-portraiture, and in "Bush Poll," (
<a href="http://bushpoll.com/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://BushPoll.com</a>)
where I made an opinion poll of the other 153 George Bushes of the
country. By making art appear in everyday contexts the potential
capacity for art to instigate change is integrated into daily life.
<br><br>I would contextualize this approach within a growing body of similar work. I see this taking place in work like Angie Waller's <a href="http://myfrienemies.com/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
http://myfrienemies.com/</a>, Ben Engebreth's
<a href="http://personal-kyoto.org/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://personal-kyoto.org/</a>, and xtine hansen's <a href="http://delocator.net/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
http://delocator.net/</a> + <a href="http://yourneighborsbiz.com/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://yourneighborsbiz.com/</a>.
One of the core motivations in these works is to make something that
has a function, and which changes or articulates how we interact with
(one small part of) the world.<br><br>Yours,<br><br>Michael Mandiberg<br><br>
++<br><br>Michael Mandiberg<br>Artist in Residence // Eyebeam<br>Asst Professor // CSI/CUNY<br>Michael -at- Mandiberg -dot- com<br><a href="http://mandiberg.com/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
http://Mandiberg.com</a><br><br>++links++<br><br><a href="http://therealcosts.com/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
http://TheRealCosts.com</a><br><a href="http://transition.turbulence.org/Works/oilstandard/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://transition.turbulence.org/Works/oilstandard/</a><br>
<a href="http://mandiberg.com/shop" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://Mandiberg.com/shop</a><br>
<a href="http://bushpoll.com/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://BushPoll.com</a><br><br><a href="http://myfrienemies.com/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
http://myfrienemies.com</a><br><a href="http://personal-kyoto.org/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://personal-kyoto.org/</a><br><a href="http://delocator.net/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
http://delocator.net</a><br><a href="http://yourneighborsbiz.com/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://yourneighborsbiz.com</a><br>
<br>