Sensitive Rose, Martha Gabriel
Sensitive Rose is a mobile device based artwork designed by Marth Gabriel and commissioned by the Turbulance website. The device is loaded onto a mobile phone or PDA, where users are able to input their wants and desires and as they add information the compass rose is altered to react to and pinpoint these desires. An example would be, "Mark wants love" which would then be responded to based on an information network that tracks the desires and wants of other users of Senstive Rose.
This piece, for me at least, is slightly terrifying in the way it depicts how dependent we have become on moblile devices - phones, PDAs, Ipods - as a means of locating ourselves in the world and communicating with other human beings. It is one thing to ask a device how to reach a defined building or city, or where to travel in order to reach the nearest Italian restraunt. Sensitive Rose plays with the idea that in the future we could become so dependent on our electronic paraphenalia that we could find love, or success, or happiness through the click of a button. Sensitive Rose is also an interesting project to study during our phsyiogeometry segment of the class because it displays the variety of places, objects, and ideas that people wish to map and locate. It is easy to place on a map where one can find food or shelter, but to map out a path to broad concepts such as "love" is such a personal mission that it seems almost impossible to pursue. However, because these concepts are so based on a common human connection, a program such as Sensitive Rose seems apt for attempting to locate them because it is so user driven and based on the common desires of humanity.
As a side note, the project is also disterbingly similar to online dating sites such as E-Harmony. While this may not have been the artist's intention, the link is there and it just goes to show how people have latched onto the idea that the internet, satelites and online devices can be relied on by certain individuals for locating anything these days.
This piece, for me at least, is slightly terrifying in the way it depicts how dependent we have become on moblile devices - phones, PDAs, Ipods - as a means of locating ourselves in the world and communicating with other human beings. It is one thing to ask a device how to reach a defined building or city, or where to travel in order to reach the nearest Italian restraunt. Sensitive Rose plays with the idea that in the future we could become so dependent on our electronic paraphenalia that we could find love, or success, or happiness through the click of a button. Sensitive Rose is also an interesting project to study during our phsyiogeometry segment of the class because it displays the variety of places, objects, and ideas that people wish to map and locate. It is easy to place on a map where one can find food or shelter, but to map out a path to broad concepts such as "love" is such a personal mission that it seems almost impossible to pursue. However, because these concepts are so based on a common human connection, a program such as Sensitive Rose seems apt for attempting to locate them because it is so user driven and based on the common desires of humanity.
As a side note, the project is also disterbingly similar to online dating sites such as E-Harmony. While this may not have been the artist's intention, the link is there and it just goes to show how people have latched onto the idea that the internet, satelites and online devices can be relied on by certain individuals for locating anything these days.
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