Glowing apparitions haunting beneath the light-strung trees of North Straub Park had a message for visitors on the night of Nov. 13—put away the cell phone and stop to admire the world around you.
The outdoor guerilla art project was designed and installed by Julia Tafelski and Jimmy Breen, juniors in the graphic design program, under the tutelage of Professor Elizabeth Herrmann. As a requirement, projects could stand for 24 hours and cost at most $20. By the time city landscapers mowed the park the next morning, the ghosts were gone, Breen said.
“The project is a commentary on how our phones affect our daily lives. We had the idea that phones were so prevalent in society, that people often lost touch with reality and ignored the beauty that surrounds us. It’s such a knee jerk reaction to just pick up your phone and distract yourself, that we end up missing out on nature’s greatest and most beautiful distractions—in this case the gorgeous banyan trees and the waterfront that Straub Park has to offer,” Breen said.
Each of the five luminescent figures—created from plastic wrap, tape, watch batteries and LEDs—each carried a simulated smart phone displaying a QR code. The codes were “sort of an ironic nod at this need for people to grab their phones and see what it is.” The website on the other side of the code “mildly scolds them and reminds them that they’re surrounded by beauty, and to enjoy it,” Breen said.
See the message at giveupthephone.tumblr.com.
Photo by Christopher Guinn.
