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.
|
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. |
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 |
