An Interdisciplinary Research Project and Collaboration Between
Jennifer Hall jenhall@massart.edu , Artist and Project Coordinator and
Ellen S. Ginsburg, Ph.D Ellen.Ginsburg@bos.mcphs.edu, Medical Anthropologist and Ethnographer

Health narratives from artists living in the South End neighborhood of Boston become content for building an interactive sculptural installation. The complex relationships between body, health, self, and community are examined from a combined anthropological and artistic perspective.

The Project Team

Blyth Hazen	Artist, Robotic Systems Lead
Arnie Hernandez	Software Programmer
Mike Mittleman	Interactive DVD Producer
Laura Donaldson	Curator
Liana Wilks-Dupoise	Fabrication Assistant

Project Advisors

Jane Stangl	Lecturer Excersise and Sports Studies Smith College, MA
Ben Mayer	Independent TV Producer Cambridge, MA
Fred Wolflink	Associate Director CAC Mass College of Art Boston, MA
Susan J. Taub	M.D.,F.A.C.S. Chicago, IL

This project pivots around the general assumption that a series of seemingly small changes can, over time, have a significant impact on the lives of individuals. This is what is referred to in social epidemiology as tipping points and made a common term by Malcom Gladwell in his book of the same name. The term also has roots in the medical industry as a way of clarifying the moment when a patientís health tips from stasis. A more recent neurological expression, the "tripping point" is an electro-mechanical term for actions that are changed or "tripped." When a certain threshold is exceeded it trips an electro-chemical activity into a biomechanical event.

This interdisciplinary team, is working to discern what small events (tipping points) in the lives of artists have changed their understanding of self, health and body. From this research an interactive robotic sculpture is being designed to respond to these individual narratives.