an interactive archive, public artwork, action-research &
study regarding the human capacity for remorse & regret
DEUTSCHE VERSION
regrets.org.uk
team@regrets.org.uk
• contribute your anonymous regrets
• get feedback of similar regrets
• watch for regrets on public display
mobile units roaming Linz, 31/08/06 - 05/09/06:
Hauptplatz; Ars Electronica 2006 Festival sites; and other public spaces in Linz.
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SEPTEMBER 2006, LINZ, AUSTRIA: Mobile units
roaming public space in Linz collect and display anonymous regrets from
the public to comprise a sociological database of time- & site-specific
sentiment in the community. Regrets Linz is an interactive archive, a public
conceptual artwork, and a study of communally shared,
but typically private recollections.
private
Instant feedback to the individual user based on other locals' similar concerns
is algorithmically generated and calculated to 'share the burden'. A wireless
connection queries a central database located on a remote server. Using keywords
from the submitted text and other self-describing user input to define similarity,
the server returns to the user the five most similar of others' regrets. An incongruous
element to some of the returns lends a thought-provoking, poetic character
to the user feedback.
public
Through existing signage, text, network, and broadcast facilities, random selections
and groupings of regrets sampled from the archive are made public
across the city. The Linz Public will encounter fellow citizens' most
personal misgivings in the spaces usually occupied by communal information,
advertising, publicity, & entertainment. By engaging local users in revelations
of a problematic but potentially constructive nature, REGRETS Linz aims
to bring specificities of individual lives, in this case personal regrets,
into the realm of public debate, shared learning, and community.
In particular, remorse is seen here as a positive entity,
incorporating recall, reflection, error correction and learning.
Far from retrograde, remorse promises change for the better...
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