Here & Now - 2020

"Art is the idea of the work, the idea without matter." Aristotle

"Here & Now" is an iPhone and Android application that gathers non-sensitive, authorized, and anonymized information from nearby smartphones that have downloaded and authorized it.

It then automatically creates an unique digital artwork from this information, based on the specific location & time of the generation. Each contributing smartphone receives the artwork as a JPEG file. Whenever a new smartphone appears or disappears nearby, the application generates a new artwork.

Although some artworks might have an affinity (the same people at the same time in the same subway car at the same location, for example, several mornings in a row), each artwork is unique because it is impossible to gather the exact same people at the exact same moment twice (not to mention that mobile informations change too).

Here & Now relies on the concepts of community, proximity, and sharing to create artworks wherever groups of humans gather: movie theaters, restaurants, public transportation, classrooms, planes, at home diners, ... The application's range is limited to a few meters to restrict contributions to humans who can see, speak to, and touch each other.