Two Propositions for Participation and One Prognostication (One Page of) Preparatory Notes: Ask the least, so the most can be included. As a scriptor, conceive parts the performers (the participants) can easily follow yet allow them to understand how they are essential to the whole. Let there be uncomplicated actions asked of the participants, making interaction accessible and non-intrusive, and then generously return evidence, in great scale, as a reward for public engagement. Present a spectacle, viewable from space, or a show of sustainable fashion, without cynicism, to further the principles of participation. Participation should be a catalytic engine for further ideas. Allow the individual to have a part in creating something unique along with a multitude of others. FIAT LUCE On a clear night, at a given moment, throughout Bologna and the surrounding area of Emilia Romagna, people will throw open the shutters, lift the window shades, pull back curtains. Then they will switch off their lights just as they have on the energy saving evenings of "M'illumino di meno." But this time they will stay by their switches and await a signal by cell phone, by radio, or television. For the next three minutes they will flick the light on and off according to the directives they have agreed to follow. Simultaneously, the International Space Station, satellites, and high altitude surveillance planes arc across the evening sky, all busily recording the whole show below... only perceptible to them from high above. Back on earth, the simple interaction by so many people, conducted from the comfort of their own homes, is complete. They will retire, stay up, or resume their evening without further interruption. The following night, on a venue like MTV Europe, people will tune in to see evidence of their participation. This light show, a mass flash-mobbing of the city, rendered by individuals, captured by the overhead planes, satellites, and the International Space Station, premieres in the living rooms of Emilia Romagna. Whether Fiat Luce is an animated message set to music, or city-sized fonts spelling a mass message to the atmosphere, it will be the syncopated expression of all who participate. Process: Market/promote the idea to the region. Identify partners. Partners identified: NASA, International Space Station, Italian Space Agency, Regional Electrical Power Commission. Construct website. Communicate intention publicly to solicit participants through viral web based media, on the street posters, public service announcements, all media outlets. Hold an open competition with citizens of the region to create a visual “message to the atmosphere.” Develop a schematic design from this. Option: Develop musical composition to serve as director of action, in collaboration with a locally respected musician or composer. The darkened city, transformed into a blackboard for the chalk of lights, can offer animation of images, forms, words, abstractions. Creation of the Operational Documents. Assemble a team of experts with students to map the city of Bologna as a performance grid. Notes: Assign pixels or notes as necessary based on the composition. Consider a stroke of light as 150 meter-square of housing. Second round of Public Service Announcements through television, newspapers and viral will let the public know it’s time to get ready — e.g. a promotional video shot from inside a space station (or surveillance planes) features a pilot, “we are zooming in on/approaching Bologna. This is your piece. Get Ready.” Three “Rain Dates” will be announced. The Performance: A website will be created to connect the public to the project in advance of the event. Telephone, radio, TV, and internet-streaming will convey instructions and timing for participants. Timing will be coordinated with ISS, Italian domestic airlines and military air forces and satellite. Possible Partners: Lighting choreography: Musician (Luca Della) or Composer University of Bolgna Dept. of Geography, Computer Science Advisor to coordination of Space Station and Scientific Programming: Guillermo Trotti, Pres., Trotti & Associates, Cambridge, MA Note: Co-designer International Space Station (Confirmed) Developmental Partners: ENEL Power Corporation Attilio Raimondi, Dir. Energy Policy Department Emilia-Romagna Region, Italy. City of Bologna, Public Art Commission SKY Italia (Television) Telecentro Emilia Romagna Additional: Public Relations Celebrity Endorsement FIAT RIFIUTI On a given day, a tall portable fence surrounds the Plaza of Neptune. This net starts empty. Participants are invited to toss their empty water bottles into the enclosure on the plaza. As they walk by, as they visit or bring them from home or hotel, the refuse of their consumption is captured by the net. This event can be the start of a critical dialogue regarding water quality, packaging, and delivery. But it doesn't stop there. This collection should accumulate until the view of the Fountain is totally obscured by a mass of discarded plastic bottles. At that time, the containers will be collected and taken to be processed into material ready for fabrication - into lumber or fabric. Perhaps accessories to God Neptune would be high fashion, Italian-designed raincoats, woven from the bottles once filled with his dominion, water. Of course, options include fancy ombrelli (from the Latin: umbra) ending with a fashion show in the rain. One aspect of this participatory act is to link the consumer, the designer, and the manufacturer. Accompanying this is a message: avenues of recycling are open, and the products made from recycled materials need not look frumpy, utilitarian, or artless. A sustainable relationship can be established through this participatory action and the use of recycled products is further encouraged beyond the project. Process: Immediately begin negotiations with collaborators, partners, and sponsors. Secure permission and permits to install work on the Plaza. Establish parameters and engineering of fence/net structure. Promote competition for fashion design teams. Identify fabric manufacturer. Start PR campaign to explain project, announce design teams. Find volunteers necessary for maintaining net as it fills. Allow bottles to accumulate over set course of time (perhaps one week). Pickup bottles and remove fences. Oversee bottles made into fabric. Designers create clothing from fabric made from plastic. Hold fashion show in the plaza of rainwear and umbrellas or “Fashion for Poseidon.” Possible Partners: Waste environmental services of Bologna: Gruppo HERA Leonarda Maresta, responsabile presidio comunicazione Gabriele Magli, corporate social responsibility ECO team: La Pillola Italian Rainwear Fashion designers: Sealup /Filipo Chiesa, Milan Textile manufacturing: Patagonia, Malden Mills Prognostication : FIAT MISTERO The two previous events act as catalytic generators for this notion. Sow the seeds of a rumor in a city of signs. Design an alternate animation of the city through fictional invention. Creating mysteries that eventually have a life of their own can propel the production of physical evidence to support mystery’s existence. The arc of mass participation is returned to the individual. Process: To be determined This is to be pursued if Fiat Luce and Fiat Rifiuto are well received and there is support to move forward with another public collaboration. Partners: University of Bologna Dept. of Semiotics and the People of the Emilia Romagna Region Bologna Tour Guide (Classical tours of Bologna) TIMELINE: (flexible) Fiat Luce Fiat Rifiuti Fiat Mistero February-March 2011 • Negotiations with collaborators, partners, and sponsors • Secure permission for plaza April-June 2011 Negotiations with collaborators, partners, and sponsors Raingear competition & judging June 2011 Projects announced to public July 2011 Plaza installation PR campaign Plaza deinstallation and bottle collection August 2011 Negotiations Plastic processing + textile manufacturing September 2011 PR campaign begins Raingear manufacturing October 2011 November 2011 Fashion show (average highest precipitation, so that raincoats are appropriate) December 2011 January 2012 Fiat Luce event (January chosen as least average precipitation, best chance for clear sky) February 2012 Announce Mistero project March 2012 Mistero forum BUDGET: The large scale of the Fiat Luce proposal comes with an understanding that some pragmatic aspects will be need to be met through negotiation, collaboration, and in-kind relationships. Both projects will rely on securing developmental partnerships. FIAT Website 5,000 Fiat Refuiti: Temporary fencing Permits Plastic manufacturing Textile production Fashion production PR/publicity for events 5,000 Posters Commercials Travel & Lodging Mel Chin Studio 5,000 PR coordination 10,000 Documentation 2,000 Management (hired) 3,000 Total 30,000
Two Propositions for Participation and One Prognostication (One Page of) Preparatory Notes: Ask the least, so the most can be included. As a scriptor, conceive parts the performers (the participants) can easily follow yet allow them to understand how they are essential to the whole. Let there be uncomplicated actions asked of the participants, making interaction accessible and non-intrusive, and then generously return evidence, in great scale, as a reward for public engagement. Present a spectacle, viewable from space, or a show of sustainable fashion, without cynicism, to further the principles of participation. Participation should be a catalytic engine for further ideas. Allow the individual to have a part in creating something unique along with a multitude of others. FIAT LUCE On a clear night, at a given moment, throughout Bologna and the surrounding area of Emilia Romagna, people will throw open the shutters, lift the window shades, pull back curtains. Then they will switch off their lights just as they have on the energy saving evenings of "M'illumino di meno." But this time they will stay by their switches and await a signal by cell phone, by radio, or television. For the next three minutes they will flick the light on and off according to the directives they have agreed to follow. Simultaneously, the International Space Station, satellites, and high altitude surveillance planes arc across the evening sky, all busily recording the whole show below... only perceptible to them from high above. Back on earth, the simple interaction by so many people, conducted from the comfort of their own homes, is complete. They will retire, stay up, or resume their evening without further interruption. The following night, on a venue like MTV Europe, people will tune in to see evidence of their participation. This light show, a mass flash-mobbing of the city, rendered by individuals, captured by the overhead planes, satellites, and the International Space Station, premieres in the living rooms of Emilia Romagna. Whether Fiat Luce is an animated message set to music, or city-sized fonts spelling a mass message to the atmosphere, it will be the syncopated expression of all who participate. Process: Market/promote the idea to the region. Identify partners. Partners identified: NASA, International Space Station, Italian Space Agency, Regional Electrical Power Commission. Construct website. Communicate intention publicly to solicit participants through viral web based media, on the street posters, public service announcements, all media outlets. Hold an open competition with citizens of the region to create a visual “message to the atmosphere.” Develop a schematic design from this. Option: Develop musical composition to serve as director of action, in collaboration with a locally respected musician or composer. The darkened city, transformed into a blackboard for the chalk of lights, can offer animation of images, forms, words, abstractions. Creation of the Operational Documents. Assemble a team of experts with students to map the city of Bologna as a performance grid. Notes: Assign pixels or notes as necessary based on the composition. Consider a stroke of light as 150 meter-square of housing. Second round of Public Service Announcements through television, newspapers and viral will let the public know it’s time to get ready — e.g. a promotional video shot from inside a space station (or surveillance planes) features a pilot, “we are zooming in on/approaching Bologna. This is your piece. Get Ready.” Three “Rain Dates” will be announced. The Performance: A website will be created to connect the public to the project in advance of the event. Telephone, radio, TV, and internet-streaming will convey instructions and timing for participants. Timing will be coordinated with ISS, Italian domestic airlines and military air forces and satellite. Possible Partners: Lighting choreography: Musician (Luca Della) or Composer University of Bolgna Dept. of Geography, Computer Science Advisor to coordination of Space Station and Scientific Programming: Guillermo Trotti, Pres., Trotti & Associates, Cambridge, MA Note: Co-designer International Space Station (Confirmed) Developmental Partners: ENEL Power Corporation Attilio Raimondi, Dir. Energy Policy Department Emilia-Romagna Region, Italy. City of Bologna, Public Art Commission SKY Italia (Television) Telecentro Emilia Romagna Additional: Public Relations Celebrity Endorsement FIAT RIFIUTI On a given day, a tall portable fence surrounds the Plaza of Neptune. This net starts empty. Participants are invited to toss their empty water bottles into the enclosure on the plaza. As they walk by, as they visit or bring them from home or hotel, the refuse of their consumption is captured by the net. This event can be the start of a critical dialogue regarding water quality, packaging, and delivery. But it doesn't stop there. This collection should accumulate until the view of the Fountain is totally obscured by a mass of discarded plastic bottles. At that time, the containers will be collected and taken to be processed into material ready for fabrication - into lumber or fabric. Perhaps accessories to God Neptune would be high fashion, Italian-designed raincoats, woven from the bottles once filled with his dominion, water. Of course, options include fancy ombrelli (from the Latin: umbra) ending with a fashion show in the rain. One aspect of this participatory act is to link the consumer, the designer, and the manufacturer. Accompanying this is a message: avenues of recycling are open, and the products made from recycled materials need not look frumpy, utilitarian, or artless. A sustainable relationship can be established through this participatory action and the use of recycled products is further encouraged beyond the project. Process: Immediately begin negotiations with collaborators, partners, and sponsors. Secure permission and permits to install work on the Plaza. Establish parameters and engineering of fence/net structure. Promote competition for fashion design teams. Identify fabric manufacturer. Start PR campaign to explain project, announce design teams. Find volunteers necessary for maintaining net as it fills. Allow bottles to accumulate over set course of time (perhaps one week). Pickup bottles and remove fences. Oversee bottles made into fabric. Designers create clothing from fabric made from plastic. Hold fashion show in the plaza of rainwear and umbrellas or “Fashion for Poseidon.” Possible Partners: Waste environmental services of Bologna: Gruppo HERA Leonarda Maresta, responsabile presidio comunicazione Gabriele Magli, corporate social responsibility ECO team: La Pillola Italian Rainwear Fashion designers: Sealup /Filipo Chiesa, Milan Textile manufacturing: Patagonia, Malden Mills Prognostication : FIAT MISTERO The two previous events act as catalytic generators for this notion. Sow the seeds of a rumor in a city of signs. Design an alternate animation of the city through fictional invention. Creating mysteries that eventually have a life of their own can propel the production of physical evidence to support mystery’s existence. The arc of mass participation is returned to the individual. Process: To be determined This is to be pursued if Fiat Luce and Fiat Rifiuto are well received and there is support to move forward with another public collaboration. Partners: University of Bologna Dept. of Semiotics and the People of the Emilia Romagna Region Bologna Tour Guide (Classical tours of Bologna) TIMELINE: (flexible) Fiat Luce Fiat Rifiuti Fiat Mistero February-March 2011 • Negotiations with collaborators, partners, and sponsors • Secure permission for plaza April-June 2011 Negotiations with collaborators, partners, and sponsors Raingear competition & judging June 2011 Projects announced to public July 2011 Plaza installation PR campaign Plaza deinstallation and bottle collection August 2011 Negotiations Plastic processing + textile manufacturing September 2011 PR campaign begins Raingear manufacturing October 2011 November 2011 Fashion show (average highest precipitation, so that raincoats are appropriate) December 2011 January 2012 Fiat Luce event (January chosen as least average precipitation, best chance for clear sky) February 2012 Announce Mistero project March 2012 Mistero forum BUDGET: The large scale of the Fiat Luce proposal comes with an understanding that some pragmatic aspects will be need to be met through negotiation, collaboration, and in-kind relationships. Both projects will rely on securing developmental partnerships. FIAT Website 5,000 Fiat Refuiti: Temporary fencing Permits Plastic manufacturing Textile production Fashion production PR/publicity for events 5,000 Posters Commercials Travel & Lodging Mel Chin Studio 5,000 PR coordination 10,000 Documentation 2,000 Management (hired) 3,000 Total 30,000