Yerba Buena Center for the Arts 2010 Installation
The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, California, USA hosted the Global Lives Project installation from February 26 to June 20, 2010. Approximately 20,000 people visited the exhibit during this time.
Artist Statement
The Global Lives Project represents radical rethinking of digital expression, interaction, and collaborative practice.
Framed by the arc of the day and conveyed through the intimacy of video, the installation slowly and faithfully captures 24 continuous hours in the lives of 10 people from around the world. They are screened in their own right, but also in relation to one another.
There is no narrative other than that which is found in the composition of everyday life, no overt interpretations other than that which one may bring to it. Together, the subjects embody a mix of demographics that represent the planet: gender, age, religion, geography, income, and urban/rural status.
By extending the long take to a certain extreme and infusing it with the spirit of cinema verité, the installation invites audiences to confer close attention onto other worlds, and simultaneously reflect upon their own. The force and depth of human difference and similarity are revealed in this process. Gaps which mark cultural divides feel, at once, both wider and narrower. This sense - that we, as humans, are both knowable and unknowable, fundamentally different as well as the same - opens a space for dialogue.
Hundreds of people from around the world, often having only met on the Internet, collaborated to record and present these lives on film. Filmmakers, photographers, programmers, engineers, architects, designers, students and scholars - all are everyday people in their own contexts; each has participated according to his or her own motivations. Moreover, by including kiosks with access to community resources and translation tools, the exhibit not only opens dialogue, but also issues an invitation to audiences to become collaborators.
Installation Description (from FOURM design+build)
The Structure
A series of rooms line the east and west walls of the gallery. The structure of each room is comprised of steel scaffolding. This scaffolding is hidden and revealed as a visitor moves through the exhibit. The scaffolding forms a light structure that slips into the existing room without overwhelming the visitor or making the space feel small and cramped. The modular nature of the assembly is meant to reflect our shared physical qualities as human beings. (The modularity of the structure also allowed us to set up an environment with the capacity to hold several people in a room as well as be accessible to things like wheelchairs.)
The Skin
In order to enhance the experience of watching each person’s life, the interiors of these rooms reflect what is being seen. The incredible diversity and uniqueness of each life manifests in the materials, textures and images used to dress the overall structures and create an enclosed viewing room. For example, the industrial urban experience of Rael's life in Brazil is encapsulated in aluminum siding, whereas the rural agrarian setting of Dadah's life in Indonesia is complemented by woven grass panels. We believe that touching and seeing textures along with the video help the visitor to engage more with the life on view.
In order to create a greater sense of intimacy in each space, we designed a shared dropped ceiling of wood pallets or slats that float above each room modulating the light fi ltering in. The scale which these exhibits helps to set up are important to the setting the tone for visitors.
The Ground Plane and Orientation
As part of having the exhibit reflect the individualism of each participant, one’s perspective or physical relationship to the screen changes based on the life of the one being viewed. For example, Rumi not only travels by wheelchair in Japan, but she also comes from a culture that lives life closer to the earth than say our culture. Thus, tables are lower; the floor is covered in tatami so that activity can take place there. These rooms are where visitors would sit on the ground covered in a material that makes them feel closer to the one being watched. In other rooms, there is specially designed ergonomic “landscape seating.” Simply built and stained, the seating is meant to be comfortable. People should feel like they could lie down or lean back and “rest”. Putting the viewer into a more relaxed position creates a sense of familiarity and intimacy with not only the viewer but also others coming to view the exhibit. It also means that the viewer will linger instead of moving quickly from one screen to another in a standing position. They are given an opportunity to take time out and engage.
Central Corridor
The role of the central corridor is to provide additional levels of engagement beyond the participant rooms. This engagement is accomplished through various means.
Community Bench and Computer Stations
A narrow bench, lined up with the existing column provides an opportunity for people to sit and absorb the information learned in the rooms. It’s also an opportunity for them to interact with fellow visitors and discuss what was seen. (Enough space exists so that people can inhabit this corridor while allowing others to pass alongside it easily.)
Additionally, we found the individual interviews with the participants to be quite engaging and informative about the lives that were on view. Computer stations towards the north end of the space allow additional opportunites to view these interview as well as to tap into the Global Lives website and participate in unique features of the project such as open-source translating.
Envirographics
Having evocative images of those in the exhibit is critical to creating this connection between the viewer and the life of our special 10 people. The imagery can not only connect us to the ten people but can also enhance the exhibit by becoming an architectural place making component. Therefore we use large digitally printed banners hung from the ceiling to present the faces of the individuals whose lives are the subject of the exhibit. The ephemeral quality of the translucent fabric speaks to the true nature of each of us that transcends the physical.
Go Cards
Go Cards are a small format graphic component that we see often as we move about in the world advertising for materials goods and services. Here, these cards are a way for people to take away something from the exhibit as well as make a more personal connection with the person being viewed. Each card has an image of the person taken from a frame in the participant’s life. In this way, some small part of a life can leave the exhibit with the viewer.
A Massive Collaboration
Working with acclaimed filmmakers, artists and designers, Global Lives assembles the realities of everyday life from Lebanon, Serbia, China, India, Japan, Malawi, Indonesia, Brazil, Kazakhstan and San Francisco. In producing this paritcular installation, we collaborated with renowned designers and architects FOURM design+build, Sand Studios and Ade, as well as experienced video installation producer, Barry Threw, and digital media artist, Rafael Alcala.
Special thanks to our amazing volunteer collaborators and our sponsors for this exhibit: the Long Now Foundation, the Adobe Foundation, the Burwen Education Foundation, the Consulate General of Switzerland in San Francisco, and the Black Rock Arts Foundation. The work itself was made possible by hundreds of individual donors and sponsors, and our key partners: Temple University Japan Campus, DotSUB, Creative Commons, the Museu da Pessoa, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP, and United Nations University.
Opening night celebration