PASTICHE—A Collective Composition of New York City.
20/12/2010.
by Ivan Safrin & Christian Marc Schmidt [VIDEO] [NY]
metalocus
metalocus
The city is a composite of impressions. Beyond the built environment, it is a constantly changing pastiche of associations and experiences—not just of the people who inhabit it, but of the larger community. New York City, in particular, has two realities: the reality of the physical environment, and the reality of the idea—of what the city and its diverse neighborhoods signify.
Inseparably intertwined, these two realities constantly continue to inform each other. Pastiche is a dynamic data visualization that maps keywords from blog articles to the New York neighborhoods they are written in reference to, geographically positioned in a navigable, spatial view. Keywords are assigned based on relevance and recency, surrounding their corresponding neighborhoods. The result is a dynamically changing description of the city, formed around individual experiences and perspectives.
Ivan Safrin is a Russian-born software developer and independent video game designer living in New York City. Combining his in-depth technical knowledge with a passion for game and information design, he strives to create novel and playful applications. He currently works as a senior developer at R/GA New York where he develops interactive experiences for Nike.
Christian Marc Schmidt is a German/American designer and media artist, educated in Europe and the United States and currently residing in New York. From an interest in working with data he has adopted a parametric, process-oriented approach in his work, which is concerned with evidence, disclosure and the materiality of information. Christian earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Parsons School of Design in New York, and attended the Yale University School of Art in New Haven, where he graduated with a Master of Fine Arts in 2004. His work has received international recognition, including from the D&AD in London, the Society for Environmental Graphic Design, Communication Arts, and the IDSA, and he has taken part in exhibitions and screenings nationwide and overseas. Christian has taught in the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University and the School of Visual Arts in New York. Follow him on Twitter at @cms_
