jasoneppink

Twenty-First Century Bonfire is an aleatoric light sculpture intended for collective viewing in quiet, low-light, intimate spaces.The Bonfire consists of seven rescued television sets topped by protruding matrices of PVC pipe that diffuse live television broadcasts into a shifting array of rich colors and abstract shapes. These heavily-researched and targeted messages of consumption—all provided free of charge by unwitting corporate collaborators—are filtered into abstraction simply by scattering them inside the PVC piping, rendering the process entirely transparent to the curious observer.The work is intended to be experienced, like an actual bonfire, at the center of a gathering of viewers. Situated accordingly, the installation becomes a space to be quiet, to meditate, to think, and to sit with others without the constant pressure to sustain conversation. When there is nothing to be said, the Bonfire is a returning point, encouraging collective silence and shared meaningful moments of introspection.Ultimately, Twenty-First Century Bonfire is an attempt to rescue one of our most deeply ingrained instincts—the need to sit with others around a glowing source of light—from the homogenizing three-act structure and the corporate consumption agenda.jasoneppink.com/​twenty-first-century-bonfire/​

The Spoiler Alert signs are faith-enhancing adjustments to New York City subway platforms, creating opportunities for trust in the city’s most important institution in the face of its overeager self-quantified broadcasts.In 2007, the New York City Transit Authority began installing LED signs on subway platforms that display estimated wait times for arriving trains. Unfortunately the information is little more than trivia: except for a few stations, it is only visible to travelers after they’ve paid their fare, so the data has little bearing on commuter decision-making.Their primary effect, then, is to erode faith in the system, to create expectations that can’t always be met, to raise false hopes, and to erase the mystery and magic of the wondrous system that transports more than five million riders a day.These LED signs also threaten historical social behaviors, rendering obsolete the time-honored New York tradition of leaning over the platform edge with the hope of glimpsing headlights from an approaching train.The Spoiler Alert signs warn waiting riders of this potentially unwanted information – allowing them to avert their eyes so they may preserve their spirit of adventure – while still leaving visible the data for travelers who wish to ruin the surprise for themselves.

Astoria Scum River Bridge is an unauthorized city improvement by Jason Eppink and Posterchild:http://jasoneppink.com/astoria-scum-river-bridgehttp://bladediary.com/tag/astoria-scum-river-bridgeFor more than twenty years, a leaky pipe on 33rd Street beneath the Hell Gate Bridge viaduct approach submerged more than a hundred square feet of heavily-trafficked sidewalk under a festering cesspool of standing water. Astoria Scum River, as it was called, stretched the entire width of the sidewalk, and as winter approached, the river iced over and became particularly hazardous to cross.Astoria Scum River Bridge was constructed to offer Astorians an opportunity to safely cross this hazard. The unauthorized bridge was a gift to the pedestrians of Astoria in the absence of successful municipal efforts to ameliorate the problem.The bridge was made at zero cost entirely from recycled materials: an old work bench found on the curb, rescued screws from a disassembled desk, and a metal plate from an expired electrical component. It was installed and dedicated on December 30th, 2009.On January 25th, 2010, Astoria Scum River Bridge was the subject of a commendation from the office of NYC Council Member Peter F. Vallone, Jr., accompanied by a pledge to work with Amtrak to re-route Astoria Scum River off the sidewalk.Two days later, Amtrak workers began construction work. Astoria Scum River was quickly routed off the sidewalk, and within a couple months, custom-made grates were installed to complete the project. The bridge, no longer needed, was de-installed on March 20th, 2010 and returned to the curb whence it came.

I followed my friends I Am, Posterchild, and Teeth around as they put up work for the illegal billboard demonstration in NYC.Learn more about the NYSAT at http://publicadcampaign.comI Am: http://iamis.mePosterchild: http://bladediary.com

http://jasoneppink.com/lightrippleThe Light Ripple is an interactive light sculpture intended for large, late-night social gatherings dominated by blaring sound systems, steady beats, and free-flowing social lubricants. The interaction model is simple: one button, when pressed, initiates a sequence of concentric rings of electric blue light that starts at eye level and spreads onto the ceiling. Instead of shaping or defining the space, the Light Ripple interrupts the space, briefly creating a shared experience as it spreads to 200 square feet over the crowd.Despite its simplicity, the sculpture rewards interaction on several levels. Its immediate appeal is its instant gratification: the ability to control hundreds of feet of bright flashing light at the touch of a button. But the briefness of the result (the entire sequence lasts one fifth of a second) encourages repeated interaction, creating new opportunities for participants to respond to the night's rhythms.Most interesting (and least apparent) is how knowledge of the Light Ripple's interaction model becomes a social currency. The only clue to the sculpture's operation is a small lighted push-button which is easy to overlook in the chaotic environment. Possessors of this knowledge exhibit how "in the know" they are and increase their perceived social value by sharing the secret with their peers, which perpetuates interaction with the sculpture throughout the night.

The Take a Seat Project on NY1

For Gmail's Behind the Scenes Video project. Apparently, Gmail even goes BACK IN TIME. The YouTube encoding quality was terrible, though (surprise!) so I uploaded it here.

A Group Of Images And One That Does Not Belong: Episode 4 The penultimate episode in a series with a possibly overly-descriptive title.

A Group Of Images And One That Does Not Belong: Episode 3 The third in a series with a persistently self-explanatory title.

A Group Of Images And One That Does Not Belong: Episode 1 The first in a series with a really self-explanatory title.

Episode 1! Dinosaur Comics (http://www.qwantz.com) is written by Ryan North who is one classy dude.

They've come to save our planet from ourselves, but can we dig it?Produced for the 10th Annual Ed Wood Film Festival at the University of Southern California and winner of the award for "Most Original" entry.Because we were lazy, or perhaps because we were feeling rather postmodern, the film is made entirely of footage from the Prelinger Archive. Also, we made it in 12 hours.

www.jasoneppink.com/pixelatorPixelator is an unauthorized on-going video art performance collaboration with the New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority, Clear Channel Communications, and its selected artists.Since 2003, the MTA has made available for exhibition purposes 80 LED screens located at subway entrances across New York City. Unfortunately, the high cost of exhibiting (an estimated $274,000 per month per screen) prevents most artists from having access to these facilities. While the MTA's effort to create more opportunities for video art exhibition in public spaces is to be commended, selected works remain wholly fixated on commercial goods and media conglomerate events, a short-sighted curatorial choice that regrettably ignores the full potential of these promising exhibition spaces.In an attempt to broaden the scope of MTA's video art series, Pixelator takes video pieces currently on display and diffuses them into a pleasant array of 45 blinking, color-changing squares. Since the project is an anonymous collaboration, the resulting video is almost entirely unplanned and unanticipated, with the original artists helping to create new works of art without any knowledge of their participation.(Translation: Pixelator turns those ugly, blinding video billboard ads into art.)