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Artivistic [un.occupied spaces] conference, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 2007

ABSTRACT

Ground truthing is the physical, on-site verification of the pixels that are transmitted via satellite as a result of remote sensing and processed into images and maps depicting particular features of a place. The experience of a place/this place, depending upon the context could be only the pixel displaying colors representative of invisible bands of light and that political and economic decisions about this place might be made based solely on the information of the pixel. I walk a pixel of land slated for development, recording the emergent narratives of those places soon to be undergoing dramatic changes in vegetation due to building. I seek a practice that compares information of an actual locale with the compressed version of the pixel to create hybrids of scientific and local subjectivities, at times working collaboratively with others where the ground truth of the pixel supports the notion and practice of local authority and at the same time resists the narrow band of information assigned to it. The performance of place juxtaposed with a factual equation of place thwarts its essentialization.