If you think selfies is the new-age thing, you might want to take a look at “As We Are”, an interactive sculptural installation in Columbus, Ohio created by American artist Matthew Mohr.
While catching up with the fast paced technological changes remains a challenge, a bigger challenge we humans face is understanding the relationship between ourselves and the representation of ourselves. ‘As We Are’ invites its audience to address this relationship by giving an opportunity to reconsider their presence through magnification. It is intended to provide amusement and evoke larger discussions around the phenomena of social media, diversity, and the power dynamic of public art.
The sculpture is a fourteen-foot, 3-D universal human head made from ribbons of ultra-bright, LED screens. In the back of the neck is a photo booth capable of taking 3D pictures. Once a visitor has their picture taken, they step out of the booth and their head is displayed on the giant head. The sculpture weighs over 7200 lbs/ 3266 kgs and has over 850,000 individual LEDs. There are 29 cameras taking a simultaneous picture of the visitor’s face. During the day, the sculpture faces into the atrium. At night, it rotates to face outward to the street.
While the design and interface was outlined by Matthew Mohr, the engineering and fabrication was done by Design Communications Limited in Boston. The imaging was done by Direct Dimensions and interface was created by Creosphere. Screens were custom made by Sansi North America.
“‘As We Are’ presents Columbus as a welcoming, diverse culture where visitors and residents can engage on multiple levels through an interactive experience with public art,” says Mohr in an artist statement about the interactive structure. “It is an open-ended, conceptual piece that explores how we represent ourselves individually and collectively, asking participants to consider their identity in social media and in public. It asks all viewers to contemplate portraits of people from different ethnicities, and gender identities.”