Handheld Histories as Hyper-Monuments

"Carmin Karasic was listening to digital artists on NPR when she realized she was a digital artist trapped in a Fidelity Technical Project Manager's body. Rolf van Gelder is an artist and web developer. Rob Coshow is an artist/photographer who recently graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Art Institute of Boston.

Designed for HP iPAQ 6900 series smartphones, Handheld Histories as Hyper-Monuments uses GPS and mobile technologies to address historic bias in Boston's public monuments. The artwork gathers non-official stories to socially construct hyper-monuments that exist as digital doubles, augmenting specific historic monuments. For example, imagine you are near the Old South Church in Boston, MA, USA.

The smartphone sounds church bells to get your attention. It then displays an easily identifiable image of the Old South Church circa 2007, followed by images of the church that take you back in time. Finally you see the location as it was in its natural, wild state. You can send text, image and audio content to the website from the monument location via any internet enabled device. Or use any internet browser to view and add histories to the hyper-monuments. " -- From Turbulence