At the Corner of Social Media, Art, and Technology
Dan Paluska has been combining his work in robotics with art for a long time. His work at MIT landed him on the cover of Wired magazine, and after leaving the prestigious institution he did a number of projects that brought together his love of installation art and the technology he had become so familiar with. One of his most famous pieces was commissioned by Absolut, and involves a user entering in a simple melody to the computer, and three other mechanical “musicians” developing themes and variations on the melody (video here).
More recently, Dan has been combining his love of art and technology with the power of social media.
The project is called Brooklyn Mobile, and is surprisingly technologically simple for having been developed by the man who spent his academic career modeling robotic limbs after real human parts—and fairly successfully. Brooklyn Mobile consists of a cart, video camera, mouse, and a laptop in a box. Dan stands with the moveable cart outside of Fulton Mall in Brooklyn and asks passersby if they would like to record a 30-45 second video that is posted immediately to YouTube. Most pass by with questioning looks, but others (who have something to say) find themselves with a voice, and an outlet.
And these are the philosophies behind the project: giving a voice to individuals who may not have the technological capabilities, documenting public space, and making social media more social. People who would like to post a video don’t need to sit down at their computers by themselves; they can do it while interacting face to face with another human being.
While we often discuss the implications of social media for businesses, it is great to see innovators and artists like Dan develop ways to humanize social media.
