A project to transform a fragment of the freeway into a distinct public space by creating a media-saturated zone. This zone, established through the use of light and sound, would be created by means of a "device" that would allow for a unique and unexpected experience to occur in an otherwise absolutely ordinary space. While the visual components of the device would be predetermined, the audio environment would be interactive - it could be influenced by anyone driving through, speaking within, or otherwise occupying or engaging the space.
THE DEVICE - A REAL TIME MACHINE COMPOSED OF THESE ELEMENTS
The democratic anonymity of American urban experience is transformed into a participatory spectacle for the Olympics. The everyday experience of the freeway and of the city grid fragments overlapping it becomes a sensation of speed, sound and light.
The searchlights form a virtual monumental space in varying configurations - warped, compressed, linear. They move at a very slow rate, in contrast to the rate of speed of the automobile, and therefore will be experienced differently each time one passes through the space. Sound processed from the sensors is transmitted by radio to the freeway space.
acoustic adviser Curtis Bahn
Atlanta Olympics
Atlanta, Georgia