Hall of Fame
“Hall of fame” is a interactive installation that calculates visitor’s potential as an artist. It uses ID-card as means of interaction and physical billboard with projected information as feedback. The information on the chip of the national ID-card is read and simultaneously a photo of the document is captured by web camera. This is the way visitor can put oneself on the Hall of Fame (if one is “artistic” enough to compete). The billboard starts a sequence showing the statistics gathered and calculated about the person. The animated sequence is projected on paper or spatial objects on the billboard. The equation consist of three main counterparts: fame, time till death, luck.
http://www.vimeo.com/3716923FAME. To be an artist, You have to be famous. The system queries a search of the person’s full name in Google search engine and fetches the number of results. The number represents his/her success in the mass-media. For each thousand results, visitor gets one star. For each hundred of results visitor gets 1 point which is added to ones score.
DEATH. Dead artists is the best artist. The second statistics takes visitor’s date of birth from one’s national ID-card and calculates one’s estimated time of death. This data is based on national statistics agency’s information. Visitors life is shown as a progress bar. The current year is marked on the bar, the birth and death dates as well. The years till estimated death is subtracted from the total score. It’s better to die sooner to become better artist.
LUCK plays important role for artist. You can’t choose a lot of things in life and this number refects it. The lucky number is calculated using visitor’s name converted info ASCII codes, average of document numbers and average of social security numbers. The result is added to the total score.
EXTRA. There are extra points to be gained. The first presentation of this type of site-specifc installation was in the Estonian Academy of Arts. I could get information about the status of person as a student or a teacher. The school’s database is freely accessible in Internet. Being a teacher added one point and being a former or current student added also one point. Hard work could make You a good artists as well, so the third extra point is given for the days the visitor had used the installation. Go to school every day, do more work, be a better artist.
I made up this equation for the success in art world:
FAME – LIFE + LUCK + EDUCATION + WORK = SUCCESS.
The only not mathematical information on the board is google search keywords that shows the visitor the connections people could make about her/him with a simple search query.
This installation could be seen as fun social game, but it also deals with more serious issues. Using the national ID-card is one of them. Data about everyone has become available to anyone. We need to be aware of the advancements in media technologies to accept them. Right now the acceptance comes without awareness. Estonia has been on the fast-forward mode in adapting new technologies as e-voting, e-government, e-everything. The way information is flowing together into one big relational database could be dangerous. Being born in Soviet Union I share the experience of converting from one Union to the Other. It makes me question. Are they really so much different from one another. One is red and other is blue, both share the yellow and the stars. So with these new ways of data fow spreading all over our lives I start wondering how the situation would be if we were still in the other side. How these privacy threats would be used, against or for us? The question arises, are they being used in the ethical way now here on this side of border?
EXHIBITIONS
2009 “Participation Cinema” Galley of Estonian Academy of Arts, curated by Raivo Kelomees
SOFTWARE
PHP, HTML, Javascript, Applescript, Estonian ID-Card reading software
HARDWARE
ID-card reader, webcamera, computer, projector, billboard with objects
THANKS
Nulku – graphic design
Ristor – woodwork
Allan Tõnissoo – installation help
Hans-Gunter Bruno Erich Lock – service
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