VIDEO DOCUMENTATION

The Candidates

Television,computer, artist software,lithium battery, custom rack.

Mobile animated screen-based participatory public art.

Politicians, as the old saying goes, never say what they mean or mean what they say. This participatory public art installation hopes to remedy that by allowing the public to literally put words in the mouths of the 2016 Presidential candidates.

Like in real life, the viewer has a choice between two candidates: a Republican and Democrat. Each candidate has been rendered as a cartoonish animated video image. Viewers may text a message via their mobile phones to the number listed on the screen and the candidate of their choice will then speak those words. The result is an experiment in direct democracy that uses crowdsourcing to compel the candidates to speak to the words we actually want to hear.

Computer software designed by the artist processes the text and animates the images in real-time so that each candidate appears to speak just moments after the text message is received. Since this project uses mobile technology and the internet, text messages can be transmitted both from within the exhibition space or from beyond.