artport gatepage June 05: The C5 GPS Media Player

June 05 gatepage
artport, the Whitney Museum's portal to Internet art
featuring
the C5 GPS Media Player
http://artport.whitney.org


The C5 GPS Media Player was developed in conjunction with "The C5 Landscape=
Initiative," a series of projects initiated by C5 that involve mapping, na=
vigation and search of the landscape using GIS (Geographic Information Syst=
ems). "The Landscape Initiative" examines the changing conception of the la=
ndscape as we move from the aesthetics of representation to those of inform=
ation visualization and interface.

Consisting of three parts – "The Analogous Landscape: Rim of Fire," "The P=
erfect View," and "The Other Path" – "The Landscape Initiative" consists o=
f massive performative expeditions all over the world that involve network =
technologies and explore the status of our relationship to the landscape in=
a networked data world. For "The Analogous Landscape," members of the C5 t=
eam climbed mountains such as Mt. Shasta (14,162 ft.) in the Cascade Range =
of North America, Mt. Whitney in California (14,162 ft), and – with two te=
ams simultaneously – Mt. Fuji, the tallest mountain in Japan at 12,395 ft.=
(3,776 m) and Mt. Lassen in California (10,457 ft.). The respective journe=
ys were tracked by means of the Global Positioning System (GPS) and Digital=
Elevation Mapping (DEM), with the goal of establishing analogies between t=
he journeys through the different terrains. For "The Other View," C5 asked =
people who are making use of GPS technology in their travels – thus "geoca=
ching" them – to recommend locations they experienced as sublime and then =
revisited the places according to the original coordinates in order to phot=
ograph document them. The goal of "The Other Path" was to accurately track =
the Great Wall of China and then use pattern matching procedures in order t=
o find an analogous "significant path" in the US.

By means of the C5 GPS Media Player, visitors can access the GPS track logs=
of each C5 member's route in the different manifestations of the project, =
see associated media documentation (photographs / video), and investigate m=
ultiple track logs to compare the landscapes. Exploration does not only unf=
old in the traversing of landscape but in raising the question whether stra=
tegies of navigation can be translated from one site to another (or whether=
similar sites induce the same techniques for exploration).

The C5 GPS Media Player suggests a trajectory from personal experience and =
live performance to a data representation of this very experience and the p=
ossible contexts for understanding it. The virtual track logs and overlappi=
ng paths accessible through the GPS Media Player form their own kind of lan=
dscape – rooted in a personal interaction with the actual landscape yet ac=
cumulating into a virtual, relational set of data that transcends both the =
subjective and actual. The different forms of data combined at the website =
– from photorealistic documentation to simulation – are a reflection on t=
he construction of reality and a shared resource that invites investigation=
by its users.

"The Landscape Initiative" is currently on view at SF Camerawork. The exhib=
ition features digital photographic prints, fabricated sculptural objects, =
3D visualizations and digital video.
http://sfcamerawork.org/exhibitions.html

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C5 Corporation specializes in cultural production informed by the blurred b=
oundaries of research, art, and business practice. Focus is on the developm=
ent of tactical strategies involving information visualization, databases, =
and distributed networks.

C5 projects have been featured at institutions such as ICA-London, The Whit=
ney Museum of American Art, The Walker Art Center, Center for Creative Inqu=
iry at ASU, and the Cantor Center for the Arts. C5 representatives have par=
ticipated in international symposia and festivals including Transmediale, B=
erlin; Ars Electronica, Austria; AUT, New Zealand; and the II International=
Biennial in Buenos-Aires.

Previous projects include Radio Controlled Surveillance Probes RCSP, 16 Ses=
sions, YDSTYDS (You Don't See That You Don't See), 1:1, and SoftSub. Full d=
ocumentation is available at www.c5corp.com

C5 members:
Joel Slayton
Steve Durie
Geri Wittig
Bruce Gardner
Jack Toolin
Brett Stalbaum
Amul Goswamy
Matt Mays