New online: Today, too, I experienced something I hope to understand in a few days

Folly is delighted to announce the launch of a new online commission for the AND festival - A site-specific artwork that auto-generates films based upon narrative data collected from Facebook profiles. Using a combination of status updates, YouTube uploads and video portraits, the work looks at people in Barrow-in-Furness from a range of different perspectives, each one a form of surveillance.

TODAY, TOO I EXPERIENCED SOMETHING I HOPE TO UNDERSTAND IN A FEW DAYS is an art project by James Coupe, commissioned by Abandon Normal Devices. The project is site-specific to Barrow-in-Furness, UK.

The project uses status updates and demographic profiles, from Facebook users who live in Barrow, to automatically generate video narratives. Data from Facebook is combined with related footage from YouTube and selections from a database of video portraits to create one new video each day. The result is a dynamic snapshot of how we fit into the network of stories that we participate in every day. The videos evolve to keep pace with how we change, both individually and collectively.

The status updates that the project selects are typically from a number of different users, as the software will seek out the best combination of available posts until it finds something that can be considered a story. This ‘script’ will then be used to construct a short film: a split screen in which one half consists of clips from a video portrait database filmed in advance, with people from Barrow who match the demographic profile of each status post; and the other half is footage automatically found on YouTube, with tags that match the text in the status post.

This is the first artwork to be made inside Facebook. By joining this application, data from your Facebook profile -- age, gender and status updates -- will be analyzed for narrative content, and potentially used to generate a short film. Your name will not be used, and your identity will remain private.

Barrovians can join the Facebook application now by clicking here
Everyone can view and subscribe to the daily films on Youtube by clicking here
Become a fan of the application here

This project is a new commission for AND, supported by Signal Films and the North West Evening Mail. The commission was initiated thanks to a Folly Lanternhouse International (FLI) residency.