Raun Harris

This project ties in with my ongoing understanding of change and our lack of permanence. I have an enduring interest in finding new ways to generate content. In social media rich world I wondered if it were possible to produce art using crowd sourced data.  A trait of our current web connected reality is abridged information. We are socialized to reduce complex chains of communication into kernels. Twitter is designed to limit communication to 140 characters. That environment through time has produced it's own chopped and point heavy language. 

My interest with this body of work is seeing what short yet heavy weight statements could come of a publicly offered space to say things. The boards are constantly changing, words are almost always written or drawn over. The work is a direct reflection of change as it never holds a state for more than hours at a time.

A few prototypes were created initially, the main issue with production was finding a way to produce a lot of the same object for little money. 

Eventually I found a way to satisfy both constraints. The chalkboards (each at 15 inches by 11 inches and 20 inches by 16 inches) were installed publicly in San Francisco over the summer of 2011. The Boards were wiped down once a day for a week and renewed with fresh chalk  with each cleaning. Interestingly, some of the boards were accepted by local communities, there were a few that were found to be wiped down and with renewed chalk. As a secondary level, one can find comfort in the fact that people were mindful of the chalk, it would always be returned to the holder. 

What follows are the best images of a four week run.

This is an ongoing project and I would like to try again soon in New York and Los Angeles.

Talk to me.