An LA art collective pits consumption and conservation hashtags on Twitter against each other to determine the fate of an augmented reality, 3D printed coral reef.

On Staten Island, New York, a 3D printed, augmented reality-enhanced art installation is raising awareness of climate change in the most techie way.

Dubbed White Noise, the work is the result of a collaboration between LA-based design studio Paper Triangles and LA’s Industrial Gallery.

The art consists of a 3D printed piece of coral reef, with a handful of iPads aimed at it.

You could argue that’s enough to constitute modern art. If a literal bag of trash is enough, then the bar is set pretty low. But the real magic of White Noise lies not in its sparse physical elements, but in the digital.

Plugging in to Twitter’s API, the project tracks a multitude of different hashtags, each designated as relating to one of two things: conservation and consumption. Choosing specific terms such as #recycling and #brunch, it pits them against one another simply by number of occurrences.

“That data is so abstract, and very hard to grasp visually.”

This data is then dynamically visualized through an augmented reality app on the iPads. This app projects a coral reef scene over the camera feed of the 3D printed coral. The volume of messages from each side of the battle determines the ‘health’ of the digital reef.

The more conservation messages there are, the more fish and sea-life occupy the scene. As consumption tweets overtake conservation, the scene fills with pieces of trash, and fewer creatures appear as the reef’s little digital ecosystem dies.

No Mo Nemo: Consumption Wins

Conceptually, White Noise is a commentary on the sheer overload of noise generated on social media. It examines the digital “white noise” surrounding us at all times, and the composition of that tidal wave of messaging.

Unsurprisingly consumption wins. An average run of the coral reef scenario lasts just 25 minutes before it is completely overrun with garbage.

Frank Shi, co-founder of Paper Triangles elaborates: “We wanted to use AR to show that in a more tangible way, that data is so abstract, and very hard to grasp visually.”

White Noise debuted in the summer at the Future of Storytelling Festival, Staten Island. As the installation goes on tour — next stop is in December at Aqua Art Miami, Miami Beach — the creators hope to experiment further in their effort to raise awareness.

Source: Hyperallergic