Seriously?
Yes.
I’m completely and utterly serious (about doing this project at least!)
At first glance, this DARPA Network Challenge is awesome- what a way to showcase what the Internet does best- connecting people together to share information- and explore how social media and networking have changed our modern lives. And to kick it up a notch, they added in a $40,000 cash prize- (here’s where surprisingly enough it starts to get uncool) The prize can only be awarded to one person.
That just seems silly to me, a hindrance to the very collaboration they are attempting to create. In order to win the contest you need to have a reason for people to want to share information with you, to collect the locations of as many balloons as possible.
So to that end- I propose doing something fun and unforgettable with the money - I think the best thing the cash prize could be spent on would be something fun and amazing that gives people joy just from experiencing it- even if they only get to see it online. Money comes and goes- but something amazing will stay in your memory and make you giggle and smile- even when the Internet celebrates it’s 80th birthday. I think that we should invest our web savvy and social media prowess into helping artist Larry Moss win the contest in order to fund the creation of a piece of temporary public sculpture that celebrates the anniversary of the birth of our beloved internet in style…a giant flying sculpture of a birthday cupcake made entirely out of balloons.
My dear friend, Larry Moss, has a long history of creating breathtaking pieces of public artwork. He’s also responsible for one of the first non-academic sites on the web, ironically enough, balloonhq.com, a community he founded online over 18 years ago. This makes him the perfect person for us to direct our information to. If he wins he has agreed to create the artwork, and those who are the first to submit a correct balloon location are invited to help join the crew for it’s creation.
You can submit any balloon locations to him through his website once the contest begins.
Until then, take a look at this past project of Larry’s that inspired this connection:
And his recent TEDx talk discussing the building of community through art:
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