PDPal
Marina Zurkow, Scott Paterson, and Julian Bleecker
October 9 - December 12, 2003
Times Square
Photo Courtesy of Creative Time
PDPal (aka Personal Digital Pal) was conceived and created by artist Marina Zurkow, architect Scott Paterson, and technologist Julian Bleecker.
Guided by the streetwise and witty Urban Park Ranger (UPR), PDPal was a multi-component public art project that allowed audiences to map their own vision of a public space, in this case Times Square. This project playfully moved between the digital and physical worlds with its three locations: The 59th Minute: Video Art on the Times Square Astrovision, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) beaming stations throughout Times Square, and at pdpal.com. PDPal's combination of physical and digital elements embedded in Times Square allowed users multiple points of entry into the project.
Together with the UPR, audiences could create a playful log of their daily encounters while traveling through the frenetic urban environment - transforming everyday routine into a realm of imagination and possibility. A user could make maps of an area to mark a personal history, respond to the built environment, or even imagine the future. A paper-based version of PDPal's mapping system was also made available for those who preferred a pencil to a stylus. Through the website, visitors could further their participation by adding their designs with others. Visitors to the website were also invited to add to or modify existing maps and use a filter function to find others’ meaningful information.
