BLUETOOTH_GRAFFITI
(Cellular Telecomminucation Bluetooth Grafitti)

Graffiti: a type of deliberately inscribed marking made by humans on surfaces, both private and public. Usage of the word ‘graffiti’ has evolved to include any decorations that one can regard as either vandalism or freedom of expression without the permission of an owner. Some consider that the presence of graffiti contributes to a general sense of squalor and a heightened fear of crime and believe that this sense of decay encourages further vandalism and promotes an environment leading to the committing of more serious offences.

Despite public ownership and responsibility for urban space, there are still individuals and groups who make their voices heard. From graffiti street action to publicity demonstrations, public space has become the ultimate open territory for everything from protests to social networking to memorials to private encounters to advertising. In fact, traditional cultural venues such as museums and galleries have taken a back seat in public discourse.

Bluetooth_Graffiti borrows from possibilities of public expression and influence and pr?poses to develop them into veritable networking tools. It has the ability to do this in a manner that is more accessible to the young public than the traditional notion of the term graffiti because it uses as medium familiar technological devices: mobile phones and other portable telecommunication devices.

There is an astonishing growth of mobile telephony and the technology that supports it. One of the current features of mobile devices is an embedded Bluetooth chip, which allows for short-range (up to 100 meters) wireless contact with others using this technology.

Similarly to the way in which one can consider graffiti to be an assault on individuals that are confronted by it in their public spaces, an individual roaming around with an open Bluetooth connection is susceptible to receive communication and information that they were unprepared for.

Through the practical use of this allegory Bluetooth_Graffiti, existing in public spaces; literally on the street and in the public institutions, gains the power to confront users, to build and inform new networks and dialogs and to provide a venue for interaction and creation.

Bluetooth_Graffiti will exist as set points of information/ expression in public locations. As someone with a Bluetooth enabled device comes within the “sociability range” of a transmission point, they will receive contact in the form of text message from the device.

Bluetooth_Graffiti will include two interfaces, one for mobile devices and one for Internet.

The site-specific one will include images, video and sound files related to the physical location of the transmission nodes and visitors to the site will be able to create new and derivative works which will be uploaded to the transmission points to be seen by passers by. There will be a similar interface inviting passers-by to look at and add images and files to the nodes’ database through their personal mobile devices.

Nodes will be placed in outdoor public locations such as close to significant cultural or historical sites as well as inside museums and galleries. The creation of virtual, interactive installations will bring fluxuating new perspectives to familiar and permanent locations. It will create dialogue relating to the specific cultural locales as well as issues in relation to its own technology, such as archiving.

Indoor Example: Upon passing a node situated next to a specific work in the collection of a museum, a user with an open Bluetooth connection will be invited to make their own comment or creative work based on their reaction to the work in front of them. The user may choose to comment on a work, to virtually “paint over” a work or to “install” another work in it’s place. Subsequent passers-by will be able to view previous submissions as well as submit their own contributions.

As the project ages in the community, the public will have the chance to become accustomed to living with these point for dialogue and may use them, much as billboards. There is possibility for recurrent visits to the access points to view the current submission, promoting through this digital network, new physical networking locales: new meeting and discourse spaces in the city and in cultural spaces. Other outcomes of these new forums are; added interest in traditional cultural institutions due to inclusion of new technology and interaction, a new venue for media works based in this technology, a reversal of the virtual values of cultural locations resulting in the opportunity for the production of new values, and an efficient forum for the archiving of public reaction to public space, art and cultural institutions.

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