Hey there! I would like to invite you to embark on a part ex...

Hey there! I would like to invite you to embark on a part experiment part attempt at collaborative art with me that promises to be very interesting: at least for me. Perhaps a little about me before I describe the experiment. I'm a PhD student in Computer Science at the University at Buffalo (if you’re at UB too, holler!). I'm especially interested in languages: their versatility in conveying our intangible and complex emotions, the obscure mists of evolution that mask how they diverged from their common origins and how the nifty anchors of words latch onto our subconscious to offer themselves in times of communicative need.

And then there are poets and writers, who create entire worlds from a handful of words: burdening their tiny bodies with convoluted metaphors, animating their abstract skeletons with powerful emotions. Once the connection between the two has been forged, the mere mention of the word brings the emotions simmering back to the surface. That’s where the experiment comes in. I’d like you to write back to me, with the first memory that comes to your mind when I mention the following words:

Coffee

Rain

Clouds

Moonlight

Grass

I have written a small program that can pull images from the web for a given phrase. The second part of this experiment is where I aggregate results from everyone who wrote in. The idea is to combine the collective memories into a collage. Pictures, the third in the trinity of expression. Once the collages are completed, I would write back to those who contributed and maybe even put them on the web.

So I invite you to join in. Let technology aid us in collective human expression.


Nikhil Londhe
nicklondhe[AT]gmail.com
Buffalo, NY, USA

PS: Don't forget to have a good day, smile at the people you see and wish them a good morning!