14.4.2010

TODAY, TOO, I EXPERIENCED SOMETHING I HOPE TO UNDERSTAND IN A FEW DAYS is an art project by James Coupe, commissioned by Abandon Normal Devices.

The project uses status updates and demographic profiles from Facebook to automatically generate video narratives. Data from Facebook is combined with related footage from YouTube and selections from a database of video portraits to create one new video each day. The result is a dynamic snapshot of how we fit into the network of stories that we participate in every day. The project keeps pace with how we change, both individually and collectively.

The Facebook status updates that the project selects are typically from a number of different users, as the software seeks out the best combination of available posts until it finds something that can be considered a story. This "script" is then used to construct a short film: a split-screen in which one half consists of clips from a video portrait database filmed in advance, with people who match the demographic profile of each status post; the other half is footage automatically found on YouTube, with tags that match the text in the status post.

The Facebook application can be found here:
http://apps.facebook.com/i-hope-to-understand/

Category:

Entertainment

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• (re)collector