A public art project by Samuel Yates sponsored by the City of Palo Alto Public Art Commission.
UNVEILING EVENT:
a presentation by SAMUEL YATES
featuring ELI SCHLEIFER
Chief Software Architect, The Color of Palo Alto
with an introduction by GLEN HELFAND
Critic, Artforum & San Francisco Bay Guardian
TUESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2008, 7:00 p.m.
CITY HALL, COUNCIL CHAMBERS
250 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301
Limited Seating, RSVP (650) 329-2227
http://www.thecolorofpaloalto.org
Special Guests:
LARRY KLEIN
Mayor, City of Palo Alto
SID ESPINOSA
Director of Philanthropy, Hewlett-Packard Company
DAVID LEVIN
Chair, City of Palo Alto, Public Art Commission (2000-2002)
VIDEO & MUSIC by MATTHEW E. JONES:
The video was filmed, edited, and scored by Matthew E. Jones (a.k.a. matt:matt), while Jones was an undergraduate student at Florida State University (FSU), Tallahassee. Jones met Yates when Yates gave a lecture at FSU on "The Color of Palo Alto." Jones came to California and filmed the last day of data sampling (photography) in 2005 and edited the video in early 2006. Although it has been shown to art schools, universities, galleries, and other audiences since then, Yates and Jones have waited to post the video online until after the color was discovered and the unveiling was near.
http://www.artomaton.net
LOCAL ITEM #1 - FACEBOOK HEADQUARTERS:
Unbeknownst to Yates and Jones when filming in 2005, the vacant lot under construction in the video (behind a chain link fence with I-beams and a port-a-potty) would become "Facebook Intergalactic Headquarters" at 164 Hamilton Avenue, two blocks from "The Color of Palo Alto" headquarters in Civic Center Plaza at 250 Hamilton Avenue. "The Color of Palo Alto" was located in the plaza from 2004 to 2008, and the Facebook building was finished in 2006.
LOCAL ITEM #2 - OPENING SHOT:
The opening shot of the video is from Foothills Park in Palo Alto looking toward City Hall at dawn. The Hoover Tower of Stanford University is visible in the left side of the frame. The water in the background is the San Francisco Bay. The City of Palo Alto boundary extends from the Santa Cruz Mountains down into the Bay.
FINAL COLOR:
The color specimens (photographs) were taken from every parcel in the city from January to December, 2005 (to capture all four seasons in Palo Alto), hence the reference to "one year" in the video. It took four years to build up to the data collection year, and several years to process the data afterward, hence "2001 to 2008," or seven years to complete the entire project. Also, the final color is not brown, grey, or beige.
FULL CREDITS:
Full credits and more information can be found at http://www.thecolorofpaloalto.org.
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4:40Trip to Palo Alto, CAby PatDryburgh3,244 views
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