These photographs were taken on a Saturday afternoon with moderate traffic.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
A Place For Developing Thoughts
As I went out yesterday and took photographs of the intersections and major roadway that have seen use of traffic cameras, I started to understand better how this is art. I find that it is in the process of developing and idea into art the real art starts to take shape.
While driving, I saw myself creating a grid of every street, avenue and road I drove down. I envisioned it like an etch-a-sketch where if you draw enough vertical and horizontal lines, you'll clear the screen and reveal what is actually there.
I already knew that the traffic cameras were more than driving and more than cars. And the meaning is even beyond the legal implications. Traffic cameras show what we are saying about ourselves as a community.
Using traffic cameras is saying that motorists are guilty for driving. And further, do we want a community where the majority of the residents are "guilty". Is there a way to turn this into a concrete picture instead of an abstract concept?
Yes!
The grid. Let's remove everything on the surface and show the real idea behind it all.
It's hard to see until you turn it into small pieces to make the whole.
All owners of registered vehicles are participants. As we drive down the streets of Cedar Rapids, we a creating a grid which will eventually cover every street. The city blocks are sections, that as a car drives down it, that section gets cut out, revealing what is behind. You can also view it as a game of "Black-Out" in Bingo. Black-Out is where everyone has a Bingo card and the Bingo caller picks numbers until someone blacks out the whole card and call Bingo. Then an worker goes over to the person to verify the blacked out card and award a prize. The card only is a winner/has meaning when someone else verifies it is truly blacked-out. (I apologize for my long thoughts).
So instead of a black-out, we are doing a cut out.
Now, I need to come up with some logic for how to do a meaningful cut out and a proper scale.
While driving, I saw myself creating a grid of every street, avenue and road I drove down. I envisioned it like an etch-a-sketch where if you draw enough vertical and horizontal lines, you'll clear the screen and reveal what is actually there.
I already knew that the traffic cameras were more than driving and more than cars. And the meaning is even beyond the legal implications. Traffic cameras show what we are saying about ourselves as a community.
Using traffic cameras is saying that motorists are guilty for driving. And further, do we want a community where the majority of the residents are "guilty". Is there a way to turn this into a concrete picture instead of an abstract concept?
Yes!
The grid. Let's remove everything on the surface and show the real idea behind it all.
It's hard to see until you turn it into small pieces to make the whole.
All owners of registered vehicles are participants. As we drive down the streets of Cedar Rapids, we a creating a grid which will eventually cover every street. The city blocks are sections, that as a car drives down it, that section gets cut out, revealing what is behind. You can also view it as a game of "Black-Out" in Bingo. Black-Out is where everyone has a Bingo card and the Bingo caller picks numbers until someone blacks out the whole card and call Bingo. Then an worker goes over to the person to verify the blacked out card and award a prize. The card only is a winner/has meaning when someone else verifies it is truly blacked-out. (I apologize for my long thoughts).
So instead of a black-out, we are doing a cut out.
Now, I need to come up with some logic for how to do a meaningful cut out and a proper scale.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Changing Perceptions
This is Art!
In the transformation of concepts is where I find the art. We, the citizens, are the participants in an event staged by the State. Our registered cars enter the City streets and create ordered paths that can be abstracted into maps of our existence. Normally, we are unaware of this map. We are just using the car as a tool to travel. Now our registered cars are weaving an abstract tapestry of guilt across the City streets. It is not that we the drivers are guilty, but the registered car is guilty.
It is the transformation that we participate in that I choose to document. Our vehicles are no longer just cars, but they are an abstract idea in movement.
How I became aware of the opportunity
In the city of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, traffic laws are now being enforced by traffic cameras. The Iowa legislature and the Iowa Supreme Court have made way for traffic cameras. At the same time, the traffic violation citations are civil and not criminal. No longer does the State need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that YOU the citizen broke the law. Now it just needs to show that a car registered to you has violated an ordinance, a concept that appears to be counter to the 4th, 5th, 6th and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution and the Presumption of Innocence affirmed by the Supreme Court in Coffin v. United States, 156 U.S. 432 (1895).
It has been argued by one of the Iowa Legislators that sat on the committee that helped pass the traffic camera legislation that you are not at risk if you don't speed or don't run red lights. Yet, he ignored how he participated in the transformation of law.
Now we can all see how we are active transformers in perception and reality.
First: What you need to know.
Amendment 4 - Search and Seizure. Ratified 12/15/1791.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Amendment 5 - Trial and Punishment, Compensation for Takings. Ratified 12/15/1791.
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Amendment 6 - Right to Speedy Trial, Confrontation of Witnesses. Ratified 12/15/1791.
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.
Amendment 14 - Citizenship Rights. Ratified 7/9/1868. Note History
1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
The Presumption of Innocence
"Coffin v. United States, 156 U.S. 432 (1895), was an appellate case before the United States Supreme Court in 1895 which established the presumption of innocence of persons accused of crimes" (from wikipedia.org)
A commentary on the Presumption of Innocence
"Aside from the related requirement of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, the presumption of innocence is largely symbolic. The reality is that no defendant would face trial unless somebody—the crime victim, the prosecutor, a police officer—believed that the defendant was guilty of a crime. After the government has presented enough evidence to constitute Probable Cause to believe that the defendant has committed a crime, the accused need not be treated as if he or she was innocent of a crime, and the defendant may be jailed with the approval of the court.
Nevertheless, the presumption of innocence is essential to the criminal process. The mere mention of the phrase presumed innocent keeps judges and juries focused on the ultimate issue at hand in a criminal case: whether the prosecution has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the alleged acts. The people of the United States have rejected the alternative to a presumption of innocence—a presumption of guilt—as being inquisitorial and contrary to the principles of a free society." (http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Innocent+until+proven+guilty)
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