It's a landscape of constantly-shifting opinions, and when politics are debated online, the internet becomes a weathervane of opinions from all ideological quarters—much like Hillary Clinton, though past presidential candidate Mitt Romney might be the better example.
This past week at I.M.A.G.E. in Brooklyn, the “incubation collective” Do Something Good, along with Damjan Pita, Derek Harms, Vasco Barbosa, and Samar Zaman, created blow_hot_and_cold, an interactive installation that “explores the relationship of individuals within the political system in the United States by creating a physical space between the virtual swell of opinion and the individual.”
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The work features a life-sized politician mounted on a flagpole surrounded by eight fans. Each fan represents a different political opinion that is currently dividing the political landscape—climate change, gun laws, health care, and abortion.
“Each political issue is represented by two opposing fans, one for and one against,” Do Something Good explains. “By processing the sentiment of tweets in real-time, the power of each fan rises and falls based on the support that issue receives online. As each issue fluctuates, the politician shifts direction to face the opinion with the strongest support.”
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