W3FI - Final Case Study

By Ben Efram

W3FI

W3FI, a project done, and continued, in collaboration between Laleh Mehran and Christopher Coleman, is an installation art series built to bridge the connections between digital and physical identities. W3FI has evolved with each iteration by the artists, adapting to both audience reactions and the location that it’s been installed.

The artists create powerful pieces of art that educate participants about the importance of relating and differentiating between our recently digitized and pluralized identities, and the effects on interactions that they can have. The project explores ways to promote conversations between physical people, but also keeps participants aware of the cables underneath us, the radio waves above us, and the endpoints that we use every day without thinking about.

Mehran and Coleman utilize a variety of media creation tools and methods of presentation. Intersections between these technologies are important features of the finished product, and nothing is used without a solid understanding of how it affects the meaning built into the W3FI system. Both artists have experience in working with fine art installations, and have explored many ways to efficiently communicate their messages through emergent digital technologies.

Recognizing the differences and overlaps in the digital identities and interactions of people become the topics of conversation between participants. This process of recognition is just the first step in the experience; Mehran explains,

“The final step is to decide to move from being a passive part of the W3 to being part of the W3FI, the collective of S3LFs who lift up each other by interacting positively, with encouragement, help, sharing, and understanding. In this way we address issues ranging from cyber-bullying to open-source knowledge.”

She then explains further,

“The W3FI project is much more than an awareness campaign, it is a movement in social activism to ask a new set of questions for each of us every time we click, text, or share a photo.”

The combination of technologies to spread ideas creates interesting dynamics that many people have never seen before. Using the tools by their traditional intentions can be difficult, and is harder to captivate people by. Through combining tools in creative ways, an activist can engage with their publics more efficiently than with traditional methodologies.

Mehran states, “The W3FI exhibition is a space for discussion, learning, and consideration.” Through the use of projection mapping, computerized vinyl cutting, a whole lot of code, and more, Mehran and Coleman combined art and message in a powerful, new way; promoting a change of perception in the audience. The space was open to any type of conversation, but the content was centered on social media and online interaction as a whole.

Open source variations and implementations of consumer technologies are also a key element in this process. “As much as there is a relationship between the ideas and the medium, tools are enablers, but also have their limitations.” “One thing that I really appreciate about digital media in this context is the power of dissemination.” Mehran’s work is also deeply “embedded in the physicality and the presence” of the messages she spreads. As a result, it is the combination of a medium that is easily disseminated in conjunction with real-life engagements that she utilizes to create successful artworks.

Why it works:

The artists of the project were able to use what they understood about media tools to communicate their concerns, and desires, for the connections between digital and physical realities. Showing people the capabilities of the technologies commonly seen in society encourages creativity not only in an artistic respect, but pushes people towards a discussion of how to best communicate with one another. Getting a new perspective of the digital world in the form of immersion within W3FI, the project had lasting impacts on those who participated.

Multiplicity of Medium

Technology provides an arsenal of tools for the digital activist. However, the brainstorming process is often limited by the knowledge of tools we already possess. Having a deeper understanding of multiple tools for media creation not only leads to an easier implementation of ideas, but also enables an activist to envision more possibilities. Discovery of new intersections between media tools provides new methodologies and communication techniques in activism.

Consensus is a Means, Not an End

Participants could speak freely about their impressions and opinions of the installation piece within the piece itself. Mehran and Coleman guided topics of conversation by including live internet feeds, the artists hoped for a deeper meaning in the positive conversations that the space promoted. After attending, a participant ideally left the experience with a better understanding of the connections between their digital and physical identities.

Make Your Actions Both Concrete and Communicative

The combination of both symbolic and concrete actions was balanced very carefully in W3FI. Mehran and Coleman were sure to include real world, and real time information into the installation, while also using their own power of design and curation to structure the final piece. For Mehran, symbolic messages held within the technology, as well as the concrete information it was used to communicate, possessed a symbiotic relationship. Without technology, there was no communication; without concrete information, the technology could not be used effectively.

Balance Art and Message

Mehran and Coleman are experienced artists who have worked with emergent technologies for a long time. Their messages range from digital to non-digital, political to social, and economic to environmental topics. In W3FI, the balance of the aesthetic and critical components are changed in each iteration, but have proven to be successful in a variety of locations and audiences.