Time-based: Decoding the Urban Specific: Elm and Church Street | Animated documentary of an intersection
2-channel projection, Flash animation, photographs, and audio, 6.3 minute loop, 1500 x 3000 pixels, 2007

Decoding the Urban Specific: Elm and Church Street is a 7 minute animated documentary of an intersection that depicts systems found above or below ground within the city square. The systems represented use graphical information and visual imagery (drawings, schematics, maps, screen grabs, digital images, text, and sound) that were collected, found, and researched from a variety of sources such as civil planning, utility companies, and historical sources. By de/reconstructing the visual organization of the intersection, brought into focus are existing order and control systems manifested physically by shapes, symbols, icons, and language. Exposing the viewer to the many systems we live by and around, the intent is to consider what we submit to and almost never question. Systematically, two classes are considered: the common, visible, pervasive, and simplistic for universal understanding, functioning as language for order, control and information. The other system is complex, detailed and follows specific codification for understanding, that which is not easily understood, seen, or readily available to the public and is tucked away in drawers, books, and other archives.