http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8496586.stm
This article highlights many of the concepts we discussed today: life/death, wayfinding ,the extent of an inventors intent. Because a webcam was placed on the beach for people to enjoy sunsets, a person hundreds of miles away was able to save a man's life. This to me illustrates an unusual type of occurrence in wayfinding. Normally people actively use tools to help them navigate the world. But here a tool, through its mere existence, resulted in the traveler being successfully navigated back home. Not only this, but the webcam was not even designed to monitor the area for lost travelers. This forces us to question the idea of an item's function. Even though an inventor has a set goal in mind, the function of an item is, as it would seem, only limited by it's user. This has interesting philosophical repercussions for art. When we create public art we are trying to engage the public with the surrounding space in some way and we design our project in a manner which we believe will best achieve this effect. Yet I question what kind of experience are we truly bringing to the viewer? How does the artist know if he has successfully reached the public?
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