We Ping Good Things To Life was an ever evolving and expanding interactive networked installation that brought together elements of Toy Theater, Vaudeville performance, Surrealism, and consumer culture. It was created by the Hatfield’s and produced by Greylock Arts.
Users could activate dozens of found and appropriated objects to create a unique performance, alone or with others, via the live streaming video feed.
We Ping Good Things to Life could be seen at weping.es.
We Ping Good Things to Life launched on February 20th, 2012 with “Act 1: Remember when we used to have Fun?” exploring the secret life of toys. New acts examining assemblage, puppetry, and animatronics through themes of cabaret and the circus sideshow were introduced every three weeks and will continue through June 4, 2012. Subsequent acts included: “Act 2: Play for Me!”, an homage to Tom Igoe reviewing the tradition of live music, and oh, monkeys; “Act 3: America’s Favorite!” an examination of masculinity and the influence of American popular media; and “Act 4: Some people would give their right arm for the privilege” commented on the sacrifice people make to participate in show business.
We Ping Good Things To Life was a 2011 commission of New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc. for its Turbulence website. It was made possible with funding from the Jerome Foundation.
Technical Information
This project made use of Arduino, jQuery Mobile, jQuery Mobile Carousel, JW Player, Node.js, Socket.IO, and Wowza Streaming Server. It is best experienced on a desktop computer with a WebKit based browser such as Apple Safari or Google Chrome.
Acknowledgements
The artists would like to thank John Duane, Jo-Anne Green, Tom Igoe, Jarvis Rockwell, Danny Rozin, The Seven Family, and Helen Thorington.
Marianne R. Petit 