| If profound intractable problems exist in society, it follows that the professions needed to fix them have not yet been invented. Ian Wojtowicz (he/him) is a writer who builds stuff. His work applies techniques of connection, dissensus, modifiability, playfulness, editing, argument, dialogue, and repair. He has shown work in Hong Kong, Europe and throughout North America, and has published work in Wired Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, and on PBS and Discovery channels. Professionally, Wojtowicz has consulted for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the US National Coast Guard Museum, the Redwoods National and State Parks, and indigenous cultural projects at Nk'Mip and Wanuskewin. Wojtowicz holds a degree in Art, Culture and Technology from MIT’s School of Architecture and is the editor of a collected volume from MIT Press entitled Interrogative Design, on artist Krzysztof Wodiczko's influential design philosophy. He currently lives and works in Vancouver, Canada, on the territories of the Squamish, Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh people. |
A Notable New Yorker
This is a portrait of the New Yorker on Facebook who had the fewest friends, whose friends in turn had the most friends. She is a stage actor. The portrait was created as part of the NYNYNY group show at the Flux Factory where a hundred artists made a large collaborative scale model of the five boroughs.
I found the subject for this portrait by writing a software program to sift though large amounts of Facebook data. The source code is available below.
The following is a transcript of the Facebook conversation I had with MJ (the person my software found):
Conversation started December 1, 2007 Ian Wojtowicz 12/1, 9:54pm Hi MJ. This is a little unusual, but bear with me. I am an artist in an upcoming exhibition at the Flux Factory (http://fluxfactory.org) and would like to talk to you about creating a portrait of you for the show. I know this is a weird thing to ask a complete stranger on Facebook, but the fact that I don't know you is actually an important part of the artwork. I am planning on creating a clay portrait of someone who I've never met on Facebook, who meets some very particular requirements. You can have a look at my work on my website http://woj.com. [sic] If you're at all interested, please reply to this message, or email me at i@woj.com or you can also give me a call at 604-___-____. Thanks. Ian Wojtowicz -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MJ M________ 12/2, 12:08am Ian, I am open to discussing this with you. If you could fill me in on some particulars: time frame for completion of the art/time commitment from me/context of the piece in the show, I would appreciate it. best, MJ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ian Wojtowicz 12/2, 2:21am Hi MJ. That's great that you're interested. I'm glad to hear it. Unfortunately the timeframe is pretty short. I'm in Vancouver and I need to ship the portrait to New York for the 8th of December, so I'm hoping to complete this in the next couple of days. The exhibition is a collaboratively designed, scaled pseudo-imaginary model of New York's five borroughs, as envisioned by about 100 artists. It is designed to be walked through. Everyone else is creating the architecture, and I'm making a model of a person (hopefully you) to place in the landscape. The exhibition site: http://www.fluxfactory.org/nynyny/ You would be represented by a 1" miniature clay model, which is definitely quite tiny and makes this a very challenging portrait. It's almost a "where's waldo" kind of situation, but given that I'm in Vancouver and you're (presumably) in New York, I think the size is quite fitting. If you're game to work on this, what I'm basically looking for is a conversation so that I can determine the best way of representing you in a 1" x 1" x 1" space. This might be easier by phone, but I'm fine with having this conversation by email too. Ian -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ian Wojtowicz 12/3, 11:17am If you're still interested, I think that all I really need to know from you is, in representing you in a modeled landscape of New York, what would you like to be wearing and what would you be doing? I could create a model of you walking somewhere, sitting on a bench, looking into a shop, looking at a sign, riding a bicycle... It's really up to you, and you can be completely anonymous if you would prefer, or I can include your name in the work... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MJ M________ 12/4, 11:55am sorry been off line for a couple of days, crazed. To represent me in NYC I would be standing under a Broadway theater marquee or walking into the "stage door". I would be wearing a black leather coat, tailored jeans or pants and cowboy boots, carrying a bag with all my gear for the day. Anonymous is fine. Does this help??? I wish you great success, sounds like a wonderful project. Let me know if you need more info. MJ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ian Wojtowicz 12/4, 1:04pm MJ: Thank You. This is a big help. The opening is on December 14th. Feel free to drop in. I'll keep your participation anonymous. Jean Barbaris, the curator, knows about this project, but doesn't know who you are, so feel free to introduce yourself if you want to reveal your secret identity. I will be in Vancouver and sadly won't be able to make it to the opening, but I'm sure it will be quite an amazing event, considering the number of artists involved. If you're ever in Vancouver, drop me a line. What kind of bag would you like to be represented with? Shoulder bag, backpack, purse, handbag... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MJ M________ 12/4, 9:00pm shoulder bag. Won't make the opening as I have a show. Will try to make it to the exhibition. Love Vancouver, was just there in July. good luck. MJ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ian Wojtowicz 12/4, 10:16pm Thanks. I've finished your portrait. I'm shipping it tomorrow.
And the source code I wrote to find her on Facebook:
See also The Betweeners.