Crosswalk Poetics

Mapping group project / 2021

For this project Vincent Li, Ruby Miller, and I studied a cross walk located at College st & Main st, Providence Rhode Island. Our goal was to create methods of mapping various aspects of the location: Physical, Phenomenal, Historical + Use, Sensorial, & Personal / Poetic / Subjective

We divvied up the categories between ourselves based on our preexisting interests and where our strengths lie. I focused on mapping the physicality and phenomenality of our crosswalk.

Over the course of this project, due to our conflicting schedules we could only meet once or twice a week. During these meetings we would gather what we had made since our last meeting and establish plans to continue. This iterative method of working together led to a collection of miniature self lead projects that generated rich visual and conceptual material.

In the end, our collection of material culminated in an interactive installation. A large, handmade, blank book into which we projected poems, randomly generated from a library of both visual and literary samples we curated throughout our mapping process.

Installation video

Upon pressing the crosswalk button next to the blank book, the right page begins to populate with the newly generated poem. When it’s finished generating, the poem transfers over to the left page where it stays until a new poem is generated. The right page is now blank again and the book is ready to generate another poem upon request.

Prepare yourselves! This isn’t any world class level installation documentation!

Tabloid sized book I made with a chipboard front and back cover. The pages of the book are all empty because the spreads were used as a surface onto which I projected randomly generated image and text poems

Installation Simulation

Building on our original project, I've designed a digital version of the installation right here on my website. As you can see above, a poem has been generated for you as you entered the page. To generate a new poem, simply click on the right page. Once the poem is finished, it will transfer to the left page where you can click on it and download it as a PDF. It's a way to experience our project, wherever you are.

Physical Map

In mapping the natural overgrowth of the brick sidewalk around the intersection we were mapping, I created a virtual system that emulates the natural processes of plants growing within the cracks of our urban environments.

A two dimensional video of an intersection translated into a three dimensional volume. Everything stationary in this volume has been removed and then flattened back into a single image revealing only the objects that moved through the intersection and the paths they took to do so.
A two dimensional video of an intersection translated into a three dimensional volume. Everything stationary in this volume has been removed and then photographed from the top. The deeper into the volume you see, the deeper into the future you are looking at.

Phenomenal Map

In order to capture as much of what happens in and around the intersection as possible, I took a 5 minute video and turned it into a 3 dimensional volume to be dissected.