UPDATED: MURMUR WALL IN PALO ALTO

WHAT WILL THE CITY AROUND US BE THINKING, SEEING AND READING IN THE NEAR FUTURE? HOW WILL ITS DESIRES AND FEARS MANIFEST? WHAT WILL BE MOST IMPORTANT? Offering a glimpse into the immediate future, the Murmur Wall is an artificially intelligent, anticipatory architecture that reveals what the city is whispering, thinking and feeling. By proactively harvesting local online activity—via search engines and social media—the Murmur Wall anticipates what will soon matter most to the city. Constructed out of an intricate weave of steel and acrylic tubing, digital displays and electronics, the Murmur Wall allows visitors to witness datastreams weaving through the wall in the form of animated LED light and digital text displays. As a continuously evolving interface, the Murmur Wall provides a place for the city to share, indulge and reflect on the real-time desires—and anxieties—of its citizens. You may also contribute your “whispers” here: murmurwall.net. Momentary whispers can be immediately interjected onto the wall. These real-time anonymous contributions will move rapidly through the lattice as bright white datastreams. They will appear only once and will not be collected, reused or shared. #MURMURWALL #FUTUREFORMSLAB #YBCA Design: Future Cities Lab, San Francisco Project Team: Jason Kelly Johnson, Nataly Gattegno, Ripon DeLeon with Jeff Maeshiro, Collin Schupman, Ji Ahn Production: Elaine Suh, Greg Hurcomb, Evan Moring, Zach Fish, Ben Ward, Nainoa Cravalho Fabrication Partner: MACHINIC Digital Fabrication and Robotics, San Francisco YBCA: Deborah Cullinan, Tesar Freeman, John Cartwright, Dorothy Dávila, Tony Pellegrini, Betti-Sue Hertz Support: Murmur Wall is made possible in part by The Burkhart Foundation, the Individual Artist Commission Grant of the San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC), and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA). Music: Enthusiast by Tours (Free Music Archive)

We had fun hacking Murmur Wall right before it was de-installed in Palo Alto a couple of weeks ago! Enjoy some of our custom animations that were sent to the artwork using TouchDesigner.

04/11/2017:FUTUREFORMS is excited to announce that the Murmur Wall will be featured in Palo Alto’s Code: ART festival, June 1-3, 2017, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Palo Alto Public Art Commission. It will be on display in front of Palo Alto's city hall for four months, from June through September 2017. The Murmur Wall is an artificially intelligent, anticipatory architecture that reveals what the city is whispering, thinking, and feeling. Sharing local activity, trending topics, and whispers, the Murmur Wall will allow the people of the city to share and reflect on real-time activity. Code: ART’s goal is to reframe Palo Alto as a “laboratory for urban interventions and creative placemaking.” In order to engage and encourage interaction within the Palo Alto community, the festival will feature eight urban interventions that will activate the current downtown corridor. It should be an exciting event!