Located within Boston’s historic (brick) core, and using the history of Boston as example, this site-specific, immersive, kinetic art installation was a humorous commentary on our use and trust of the internet for learning.

The project made tangible (physical) and spatial, the experience of unfiltered, virtual information found on the Internet: the disconnected, true/false, incomplete, and tangential “facts” we are exposed to on a daily basis, that lead to chaotic, fictive, composite memories: a lot of time; a lot of data; a lot of spelling errors; a lack of a conclusion; gossip.

The quotes on the bricks came from conducting a typical Internet search, starting with a key phrase – in this case “history of Boston” – and evolving from there, randomly, to terms discovered or thought of along the way – such as “puritan,” “city on a hill,” and “Cambridge Agreement.”

Whatever information was found was placed on the bricks. Sometimes this information was true; other times it was false. Sometimes it had absolutely nothing to do with the subject (the history of Boston); other times it had a mere tangential relationship to it. In this, it tried to stay true to the experience of learning through the Internet.

Elegantly organic and light, the installation swayed in the wind like an extension of the grass. Its kinetic properties highlighted the experiential qualities of art which engages nature.

It was interesting to observe how different people interacted with it. Children mostly saw it as a challenging obstacle course, running through its maze-like layout and sometimes frighteningly swinging the lightweight bricks at each other. Adults, on the other hand, walked through it slowly, curiously reading the text painted on them and taking photos, laughing once they figured out the hidden critique.

The idea for the project came from three sources:

  • · a concern of how the Internet is negatively affecting our brains, particularly as regards learning, memory, and critical thinking
  • · a personal interest in history, particularly that of urbanism/cities
  • · a reference to Boston’s educational Freedom Trail, the site the installation was conceived for, which I developed while I worked as designer on the North End Parks

FOR / CLIENT

Figment Boston, National Parks of Boston, The Freedom Trail Foundation, & The Shirley Eustis House Association

SITES

  • · Rose Kennedy Greenway at Rowes Wharf, Boston, MA
  • · North End Parks, Boston, MA
  • · Shirley Eustis House, Roxbury, MA

MATERIALS + DIMENSIONS

  • · 120 floating bricks, 4′-7′ tall over a 30′ x 50′ area
  • · Balsa (wood), steel, paint

WORK / CREDITS

Design & Photos: Ioana Urma. Fabrication: Ioana Urma, with minor help from Zach Hoevet (lasercutting stencils) and Josh Burgel (color check of bricks in Boston). Installation: Ioana Urma with help from Raluca Sisu (all sites), Figment volunteers + Dragos Diaconescu (Rowes Wharf), Bogdan Urma + Randall Imai (North End Parks), Narbey Derbekyan (Shirley Eustis House).

A young lady and a young man standing in a field of seemingly floating fake bricks on steel rods, read the text painted on the bricks.
Black ink on paper concept sketches, looking like spaghetti or mazes, with lines overlapping each other going in different directions.
In a grassy field of fake bricks floating at different heights above them, a young boy and girl play with one of the steel rods supporting one of the bricks.
A man standing in field of floating fake bricks, against a backdrop of the steel pergolas in the North End Parks, reads the text painted on a brick.
A close up of a fake brick with the following text on it:
                                                                    CALL DUNCAN GIBBINS TODAY TO SET UP A NO WIN NO FEE CAMBRIDGE AGREEMENT. A close up of a fake brick with the following text on it:  
                                                                    RELIGION IN THE TWELVE COLONIES… COLONIAL RELIGION IS CENTERED ON THE LORDS OF KOBOI. IN THE REIMAGINED SERIES AND CAPRICA, 
                                                                    ELEVEN LORDS OF KOBOI HAVE BEEN POSITIVELY IDENTIFIED…. A close up of a fake brick with the following text on it:  
                                                                    SHAWMUT DEPENDING ON WHO TRANSLATES IT: WHERE THE BOATS LAND / LIVING WATERS / BUBBLING FOUNTAINS / UNCLAIMED LAND. 2 fake bricks with the following text on them:  
                                                                    (upper brick) CAMBRIDGE AGREEMENT, (AUG. 26, 1622), PLEDGE MADE… BY ENGLISH PURITAN STOCKHOLDERS OF THE MASS. BAY CO. 
                                                                    TO EMIGRATE TO NEW ENGLAND IF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE COLONY COULD BE TRANSFERRED THERE,
                                                                    (lower brick) ON MAY 18, 1631, REVEREND WILLIAM BLACKSTONE… TOOK THE “FREEMAN’S OATH”. 
                                                                    HE WAS THE FIRST ONE TO DO SO… BEFORE THE… [RESTRICTION OF]… RESTRICTION OF FREEMEN TO CHURCH MEMBERS.
A close up of a fake brick with the following text on it:  
                                                                    SHAWMUT DEPENDING ON WHO TRANSLATES IT: WHERE THE BOATS LAND / LIVING WATERS / BUBBLING FOUNTAINS / UNCLAIMED LAND.
An older couple standing in a field of floating fake bricks, against a backdrop of the steel pergolas in the North End Parks, reads the text painted on the bricks.
A close up of a fake brick with the following text on it:  
                                                                    RELIGION IN THE TWELVE COLONIES… COLONIAL RELIGION IS CENTERED ON THE LORDS OF KOBOI. IN THE REIMAGINED SERIES AND CAPRICA, 
                                                                    ELEVEN LORDS OF KOBOI HAVE BEEN POSITIVELY IDENTIFIED….
field of floating fake bricks seen against backdrop of historic Shirley Eustis House house and garden
little boy in red shirt grabbing hold of thin steel support holding up a brick to swing it
man in black suit and sunglasses looking at fake bricks up close
A close up of a fake brick with the following text on it:
                                                                            CALL DUNCAN GIBBINS TODAY TO SET UP A NO WIN NO FEE CAMBRIDGE AGREEMENT
field of seemingly floating fake bricks is seen from a distance in the historic Shirley Eustis House garden
2 fake bricks with the following text on them:  
                                                                            (upper brick) CAMBRIDGE AGREEMENT, (AUG. 26, 1622), PLEDGE MADE… BY ENGLISH PURITAN STOCKHOLDERS OF THE MASS. BAY CO. 
                                                                            TO EMIGRATE TO NEW ENGLAND IF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE COLONY COULD BE TRANSFERRED THERE,
                                                                            (lower brick) ON MAY 18, 1631, REVEREND WILLIAM BLACKSTONE… TOOK THE “FREEMAN’S OATH”. 
                                                                            HE WAS THE FIRST ONE TO DO SO… BEFORE THE… [RESTRICTION OF]… RESTRICTION OF FREEMEN TO CHURCH MEMBERS
A teen boy runs through a grassy field of fake bricks floating at different heights, while an older gentleman takes a photo of one of the bricks.
Little girl yells while pulling on the thin steel support holding up a fake brick.
A close up of a fake brick with the following text on it:   
                                                                                JOHN WINTHROP’S “SHINING” CITY HAD MORE IN COMMON WITH THE VARIOUS TOTALITARIAN UTOPIAS IN HISTORY 
                                                                                THAN WITH THE SPIRIT OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS PASSED MORE THAN 100 YEARS AFTER THIS DEATH.
A man looking down and woman looking up to read the fake bricks’ texts, with a field of floating bricks in their foreground, and a backdrop of a blue sky with clouds.
A close up of a fake brick with the following text on it:  
                                                                                WHAT HISTORICAL EVENTS HAPPENED ON MY BIRTHDAY? MARCH 4, 1629 “MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY, 
                                                                                WHICH HAD THE ROLE OF COLONIZING THE AMERICAS, IS GRANTED A ROYAL CHARTER.”.
A middle aged lady in a pink shirt, standing in a grassy field with fake bricks floating at different heights, looks up to read the text painted on one of the bricks.
A close up of a fake brick with the following text on it:
                                                                                FORBIDDEN, YOU DON’T HAVE PERMISSION TO ACCESS /THE-PURITAN-ENTERPRISE/ ON THIS SERVER. A close up of a fake brick with the following text on it:  
                                                                                WHAT HISTORICAL EVENTS HAPPENED ON MY BIRTHDAY? MARCH 4, 1629 “MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY, 
                                                                                WHICH HAD THE ROLE OF COLONIZING THE AMERICAS, IS GRANTED A ROYAL CHARTER.” A close up of a fake brick with the following text on it:  
                                                                                A PURITAN IS A POWERFUL UNITED STATES POLITICAL PARTY CURRENTLY DOMINATING THE US CONGRESS AND REDNECK STATES. 
                                                                                HE WORD PURITAN DERIVES FROM THE CHINESE ROOT “PU-” (UPTIGHT) & “-ITAN” (MOTHER@#…). A close up of a fake brick with the following text on it:   
                                                                                JOHN WINTHROP’S “SHINING” CITY HAD MORE IN COMMON WITH THE VARIOUS TOTALITARIAN UTOPIAS IN HISTORY 
                                                                                THAN WITH THE SPIRIT OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS PASSED MORE THAN 100 YEARS AFTER THIS DEATH.
A close up of a fake brick with the following text on it:  
                                                                                A PURITAN IS A POWERFUL UNITED STATES POLITICAL PARTY CURRENTLY DOMINATING THE US CONGRESS AND REDNECK STATES. 
                                                                                HE WORD PURITAN DERIVES FROM THE CHINESE ROOT “PU-” (UPTIGHT) & “-ITAN” (MOTHER@#….
Standing in a grassy field of fake bricks floating at different heights above him, a young boy bends the metal rod support of a brick down so he can read the text painted on it.
up close shot of three fake bricks seen in perspective one behind the other, the text painted on the closest brick reads:
                        IN THE EARLY DAYS OF NEW ENGLAND, A ‘FREEMAN’ IS A MAN WHO HELD THE RIGHT OF FRANCHISE (IN 1776 ONLY ONE-SIXTH OF THE POPULATION OF BOSTON WERE VOTERS…)
A close up of a fake brick with the following text on it:
                                                                                FORBIDDEN, YOU DON’T HAVE PERMISSION TO ACCESS /THE-PURITAN-ENTERPRISE/ ON THIS SERVER.

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FALLEN
LEAVES

MARTHA’S VINEYARD, MA
(AT MTA)