Walk Ways

Walk-ways is a study for an interactive video installation, a dynamic ground level
frieze that portrays a shifting choreography of people's footsteps as
they cross the bridge. It is conceived as a piece that people shape with
their footsteps and as a medium for playing with the gaits of human and
non-human animals.

This is a study for a participatory installation that creates ever-changing, real-time
choreography with the footsteps of people entering or departing the plaza
on their walk across an enclosed pedestrian bridge that spans the Mississippi River. As people pass this public threshold, a visual sample of their way of walking is recorded. The video sequence of their footsteps and their ankle to foot movement is displayed
along a projection surface [or in the future a flexible video display material] that
stretches across the lower band of the passage way. These moving
images of feet and footwear in motion are in constant dialogue with the
streaming of people along this pedestrian artery.

"In the moment" video becomes part of a mix of video samples that portray
the walking rhythms of people who have made this passage earlier. The
recognizably particular and idiosyncratic gaits of people walking are
interspersed with the occasional appearance of non-human animals moving
with their scaly, furry or slippery feet. This visual choreography of
eclectic ways of walking is constantly refreshing itself with the ambient
and playful participation of people as they flow in and out of the plaza.

Proposal as part of the Mississippi River Bridge Plaza Project competition

The team of VJAA + Houmin + Diane Willow were selected as the winning team after a jury presentation by the four finalist teams.

The jury included: Edwin Chan, Gehry Partners, Cinda Gilliland, SWA Group, William Pedersen, Kohn Pedersen Fox, and Hilde Hein, PhD, Public Scholar, Brandeis University.