programmer
below, just a point is a light installation which reveals the sensual intersection between data points whose effects are unquantifiable because they’re unavailable and data points whose effects are only too quantifiable, but not searchable.
this installation wants to highlight the cause and effect relationship between property transactions —often happening unbeknownst to and to the detriment of inhabitants— and the amount of sunlight that these inhabitants are exposed to. on a very physical level, property transfer results directly in the construction of ever-higher rises, following a logic of most value extraction from the land, which in turn manifests itself through a net disappearance of sunlight for current tenants and neighbors upon completion of the construction work.
on the one side, then, data quantifying the amount of sunlight that urban zones are exposed to throughout the year is well documented, and visualized using current state-of-the-art technology from both specialized outlets, and broadsheet publications; it is the very experience of seeing the light disappear that prevents readers and audience members to truly experience what it meant, not to live in shadows, but to see the light disappear.
on the other side, as the buildings rise, they obfuscate the original act of their creation —the financial exchange of mortgages— as they get buried deeper and deeper into the ACRIS database, supposedly open, yet hardly searchable, hardly findable, only remnants of deeds.
this was thought through with nicolas grefenstette and produced with the invaluable help of jeremy kent white.