Following the Man of the Crowd

An innovative and interesting fusion of technology and writing is on the way. Its authors, Christina Ray and Lee Walton will be transmitting a series of text messages between them. What is interesting about this series of messages is that they will form a story.

Based loosely on Edgar Allen Poe’s short story “The Man of the Crowd” and inspired by Vito Acconci’s 1967 “Following Piece,” Ray and Walton have developed a collaborative performance that involves following strangers over a 24-hour period. Working as a team connected only through text messaging, the two will alternate turns following selected strangers through New York City.

While one participant is “following,” the other participant is resting, or “not following.” When the first participant’s stranger becomes “un-followable,” by entering the private space of a building or taking a taxi, for example, a text message is sent to activate the second participant who locates a new stranger to follow. The two participants, Ray and Walton, will enact this alternating cycle throughout the 24-hour period. While “on” they’ll maintain an intense awareness of a single stranger and his or her unknown destination. While “off,” they’ll rest and experience their present location. The switch from one participant to the other will be determined by the actions of the strangers, and may be exhaustingly rapid or frustratingly slow.

Or at least, it might form a story. It will be interesting to read the result(s). In fact, if You would like to read the messages as they happen, there is a way to subscribe to the texts as they happen, so that they arrive on your phone, live. To follow the project online, visit the Following the Man of the Crowd web page October 02 10am – October 03 10am for instant text and photo updates from the street.

source: textologies

update: I’m told that “The Man of the Crowd” is actaully part of a larger event. An email from Dana Spiegel, who is the producer of Spectropolis enlightened me a bit more about the whole thing.

Spectropolis: Mobile Media, Art and the City is a three-day event (October 1-3, 2004) in Lower Manhattan that highlights the diverse ways artists, technical innovators and activists are using communication technologies to generate urban experiences and public voice. The increasing presence of mobile communication technologies is transforming the ways we live, construct and move through our built environment. The participants of Spectropolis make obvious or play with this shift, creating new urban perceptions and social interactions with cell phones, laptops, wireless internet, PDAs and radio. In addition to twelve projects presented in City Hall Park, there will be several free hands-on workshops and three panels available to the public.