The above design of Tampa Public Mood Ring for Lights On Tampa is by Will Pappenheimer

CONCEPT:  Will Pappenheimer’s project, the Tampa Public Mood Ring, is being realized through Lights On Tampa and includes partnerships among the City of Tampa, and Gerdau Ameristeel. Gerdau Ameristeel, an international company headquartered in Tampa and a wholesaler of recycled steel, is building a temporary structure designed by Pappenheimer that will celebrate the entire playoff experience and will highlight the mood of the news. Pappenheimer is creating an interactive program that will be hosted by  a news website and online visitors will be able to access the program in order to “rate the mood” of the article to change the lights on the structure. The installation will be unveiled January 10, 2009 and will be on display through February 1, 2009, when Tampa hosts Super Bowl XLIII.

"My current work is generated with an interest in creating overlapping virtual and real world projects that function through participation and often appear as 'useful' rather than artistically motivated. This work often takes the form of an experiment; a prescriptive set of directives that unfold the artwork as a result. The Tampa Public Mood Ring is an experiment in art, sports and telepresence. A virtual community of enthusiasts centered around the NFL is invited affect the artwork through the emerging practices of online news commentary and blogging. Color lighting is the vehicle that encapsulates the individual and collective moods of the participants. In this project color is an information question and an instant bridge from personal to public space. As artworks my interest is to create a functions that activate relationships between virtual participants, public institutions and physical space. With the rise of networked societies, across the globe, the boundaries between these constituents are now in the state of flux. There is a resurgence of the importance of public opinion and involvement. Successful business models are open shells for user communities’ activities. In this context I am always interested in testing the boundaries assumed as conditional to the artwork. How far can it be integrated into everyday life, as in this case, the fan base of the NFL." - Will pappenheimer

BRIEF BIO: Will Pappenheimer is an artist working in new media, installation and multi-media. His projects utilize participatory media and information aesthetics and home surveillance networks. He holds degrees from Harvard College, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and is assistant professor at Pace University, NY. He has exhibited in numerous shows nationally and internationally including the ICA Boston, FILE 2005, Sao Paulo, ISEA 2006/ZeroOne, San Jose Museum of Art, Kunstraum Walcheturm, Zurich, the Museum Fine Arts, Boston, Exit Art, Florence Lynch Gallery and Postmasters Galleries, New York, and a recent solo show at Fringe Exhibition in Los Angeles. His work received a half page photo citation in the New York Times at Art Basel Miami 2003, a chapter of Gregory Ulmer’s book, “Electronic Monuments” and is included in Whitney Museum curator Christiane Paul’s new edition of “Digital Art.” He has been recipient of an Individual Artist Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and recent commissions from Turbulence.org and Rhizome.org. http://www.willpap-projects.com.

BRIEF BIO: CHIPP JANSEN's interests lie at various intersections of Art, Computer Science, and Geography. Artistically, his work Involves cartographic advocacy, cable network news subversion, and food production performance. Recent work has included "Invisible Influence", a commission online piece for Turbulence.org, and his piece "CNNPlusPlus" was exhibited at ISEA 2006/ZeroOne, San Jose Museum of Art.With an interdisciplinary programming culture focus, Chipp has taught in the schools of Computer Science, Art, and Architecture at the University of Michigan, Cornell University, Brooklyn College, City College of New York, and the Pratt Institute. Currently he is also pursuing a Master's degree in Geography at Hunter College - CUNY with a focus on new media in cartography, and urban geography. Recent cartographic work includes CrashStat (http://www.crashstat.org), a pedestrian and bicycle accident map for the New York City area for the advocacy group Transportation Alternatives. He is also a research member of Bu-Con, working on infrastructural solutions for the after-future and exhibits with them regularly.