Days 7 and 8 - Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 September

How the city takes on a different face on weekends. Gone are the suits, stilettos and crowds. Enter the   jeans, tee-shirts and lycra. And of course football scarves.

The colour for Saturday was green, with plenty of it on show as people made their way from Adelaide station to Rundle Park for the Adelaide's leg of 2000 rallies worldwide for action on climate change.

Traffic in Topham Mall was way down compared to weekdays. Still the occasional passer by got to enjoy an eclectic mix of waving, warped train messages, cars ever circling around a car park and faces emerging from a QR code. 

Hindmarsh Square continued to be a quiet point of refuge from the bustle of Rundle Mall. The video of a never ending down escalator captured the interest of a number of passers by.

I presented a lighter collection on North Terrace, for the enjoyment of families on their way to the museum, art gallery, etc.

The lycra referred to earlier was in full force on Sunday morning as thousands flocked for the city to bay run. Curiously, this was the reason that Adelaide went a day ahead of the world in holding it's climate change rally. The power of a fun run!

Lycra gave way to scarves as punters headed to the Oval for the Red Legs v Port game. 

The signs had a slow, but regular parade of observers. A technical hitch with the Hindmarsh Square sign - the first of the week - kept me occupied their for a while. By the end of the day, it had sorted itself out. 

Day 6 - Friday 19 September

Lots to report today. So much that I've only time now for a quick snap shot.

Day started with a photo shot by Alex of Sputnik Films at Hindmarsh Square.

Then a short bike ride past a number of Adelaide Park(ing) day entrants setting up. A great sight.

From 12 to 2 was the meet the artist session at Topham Mall. Thanks to all who stopped for a chat. Many highlights, including:

* The two people who noticed that the LEDs on the road signs are shaped like little houses. Ive been staring at theses signs for weeks and never noticed. They also mentioned that an art piece celebrating the work day life routine was a bit depressing. I guess that's why I'm also interested in rituals and revelations.

* Whist I was talking with them a security guy arrived - who didn't want to be names or photographed. He mentioned that he was from the big building next door and had received a complaint from one of the high profile tenants. He asked that I refrained from videoing the building. In the same breath he acknowledged that it was a public place. Any coincidence that the Immigration Department is in the building? And the most I ever film of the building is a blank concrete wall!

* Two of my work colleagues arrived and we watched my 8 min opus A Day in a Life (see video below)

* Josie, Adelaide Park(ing) Day coordinator arrived. She has also presented public art and we discussed how wonderful it was to observe passers by's expressions as they experience the works.

* Bridie, a passer by, noted that the signs reminder her of the nintendo days. And these are "advanced technology" road signs!

* Then the real highlight of the day - Adam, who heralded his arrival with the statement "this is solar shit". How dare I use solar power for something as shit as this. We had a long and winding discussion on many matters. In the end he said "you've made my day". And he made mine.

* Kate, a journalist student doing an assignment on Adelaide Park(ing) Day. We discussed parking, traffic and art and she took some great photos.

* The Park(ing) Day judges arrived - a flock of very well dressed people around town. Wonderful that they really got into Daily. Especially when we saw the sign from a distance

* Louise from ANAT passed by and we discussed the similarities of this project to a former project at the Rundle Lantern

* A guy on his way to jury duty took some photos. "Really awesome". Thanks!

* A woman took some photos and said she could see a person in a mobility scooter in the "feet' video. Wow. I've never seen that. Her friend had also seen the sign at Hindmarsh Square.

* And a few more work colleges popped by.

Thanks again everyone for a great day.

Adelaide Park(ing) - meet me from 12 to 2pm at Topham Mall today

Friday September 19th is Adelaide Park(ing) Day. Look out for the weird and wonderful taking over car parking spots across Adelaide CBD.

Daily at Topham Mall is part of Adelaide Park(ing) Day. I'll be on site at Topham Mall from 12 to 2pm to chat about Daily with lunchtime passers by. 

From 12-1 I'll be showing a 6 minute animation of a day in the life of city worker. It's full of rituals, routines and revelations. 

From 1-2 I'll be showing a short ambient movie of pedestrian traffic in the CBD. The movement and colour create wonderful textures of city life. 

Come on down. It will be great to meet you today!

I'll also be at Hindmarsh Square around 9.45am taking photos of the installation. 

Day 5 - Thursday 18 September

Today I'd like to share a response to the survey I'm running on Daily. It read's like a great Q&A about the project.

Before that, though, I got suitably drenched on my lunchtime cycle around the three Daily sites today.  In response, I showed the rain animation on all three signs during the early afternoon.

Come early evening the damp on the pavers of Topham Mall created some quite evocative scenes...

Now here's the Q&A. Thanks very much to the anonymous survey respondent.

Q: Briefly describe what you saw, even if it was just a blur of pixels.

A: Error messages and top down view of an intersection.

Q: What did you think of what you saw?

A: I think it's great to have things that people can enjoy when they stop and take notice of it. Also I'm fond of the low resolution, it's similar to pixel art.

Q: What else would you like to see on a solar powered sign?

A: Pixel art! More word play or things that seem normal but aren't quite.

Q: What other location would be good for solar powered road art?

A: Intersections where pedestrians have to wait for a long traffic light. Also good choice on Topham Mall, many people walk past there after work.

Q: Tell me about your daily rituals.

A: Walk around the city after uni for an hour or two (I found your three signs this way!)

Q: Tell me about your daily routines.

A: 

Bus ride to uni. Lectures on campus. Walk. Bus ride back home. Study. Sleep. Repeat until weekend.

Q: Tell me about your daily revelation.

A: Not sure, though my daily walks are typically when I do have revelations.

If you have a few moments I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences of Daily

And to finish, here's a few snaps from today...

Daps

You Are Here

Meaning

Day 4 - Wednesday 17 September

On arriving into town today, I was chuffed to see a story on  Daily on page 9 of this week's The City newspaper. Thanks Sophie Perri for a great story.

Rain cleared to sun. Good news for custodian of three solar powered road signs. And also an opportunity to start showing some of the videos that can drain the batteries in cloudy days.

The regulars of Topham Mall were greeted with me presenting a good morning message, in the style of Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" video. One passer by noted that Daily was a refreshing change from the "doom" messages normally shown on road signs.




Mid morning was an exercise in location, location, location with a play on the words "you are here". Who needs a GPS when you know that? The lunch crowd got to view Tetris, a short video of a person being built from Tetris pieces.

Those on their way home got to see buses on the road sign, as well as criss-crossing Currie Street.

While Topham was all about location, Hindmarsh Square was playing with the words "the time is now". What else do you need on a watch face?

The Square is an oasis in the City. People stretched out on the grass enjoying the spring sun. They were presented with faces emerging from a QR code and a never ending video of scrolling through an app on a phone. There were plenty of passers by doing just that.

Those ever changing creatures, the Daps finished off the day.













Over at North Terrace, it's Graduation time. Gowns, graduates and proud families galore. I greeted them in the morning with some waving. Mid morning was "face mess", those two eyes and a mouth in search of making a face. In the photo below, a mother was entertained by the "limbs" creatures whilst caring for her child. At the end of the day, those on their way to catch a train home were reminded to "mind the gap".

Day 3 - Tuesday 16 September

With morning grey clouds, I greeted the Topham Mall commuters with an animation of rain clouds clearing to a rainbow. Thankfully the clouds did occasionally part to charge up the road sign batteries.

A bit of a face theme through the day, with a video of faces morphing out of QR codes - am I the only person who tries to find meaning in QR code's seemingly random collection of black and white squares - followed by a cute little animation of two eyes and a mouth bouncing around in search of a face. Our brains are so hard wired to recognise faces that faces leap out whenever the two eyes line up.

Afternoon commuters were treated to "mind the gap", a collection of phrases that alter, ever so slightly train announcements. "Please mind the gap when alighting from the strain". You get the idea. A worker having an afternoon puff mentioned that she enjoyed these wordy messages. And there were many bemused faces strolling down towards Currie Street.

At the more laid-back Hindmarsh Square, on show in the morning was a white collar worker repeating endlessly the ritual of putting on a tie. Have you ever had one of those days when you can't get your tie to the right length.

At lunchtime was the first showing of the longest video of the Daily collection, a 6 minute 38 second opus on a day in the life of an office worker. Rituals, routines and revelations in each ans every 194 frames.

Late in the afternoon some uni students were having some fun with "meaning", a wordy animation exploring different ways we search for truth and meaning. They were kind enough to pose for a photo.

At North Terrace the creates with limbs all over the place were on display in the morning. Later came messages exploring what time it is ... "The time is now". Following this was the animation of a helicopter view of a busy pedestrian crossing. I caught a snap of some students videoing this. Finished the day with the quirky collection of computer error messages.

Day 2 - Monday 15 September

Highlight of the day was to find out that a bike courier posted a video of Daily on Instagram and then founds it's way on to Facebook. Many thanks, who ever you are!

To scoot between the three sites of Daily, today I borrowed one Adelaide City Council's free bikes. Worked like a treat, though I soon learnt to keep to the bike lanes of Pirie St rather than taking on the busses of Grenfell St.

All three signs greeted workers, shoppers, students and visitors this morning with a "Public Notice - Art Here DAILY". Lots of double takes as passers by puzzles over why a roadsign was mentioning art. A techny guy at Hindmarsh Square was getting into how I manages to program the signs to show short videos.

At 8.30 I met a photographer from The City newspaper at Topham Mall. Look out for this week's edition. 

At Topham Mall, late morning visitors were greeted with a seemingly endless collection of error messages, all real messages that you've probably seen from your computer one time or another. Put together they convey the frustration we often experience trying to use these every more complex beasts. Indeed putting Daily together had its fair share of such experiences.

Early afternoon, the Daps were on display, human like creatures who refuse to conform to the stereotypes of bodies.

Both the error messages and Daps form part of the "revelation" theme of this Daily.

I gave afternoon commuters, on their way to the station, a good evening wave. A nice ritual to end the day.

Seems I took most of my photos today at Topham Mall.

At Hindmarsh Square, where people can relax on a park bench and toddlers can play, I shows "limbs" - wildly gymnastic creatures who can put their limbs anywhere they wish, a slideshow of the many different types of people we see and an animation of a pedestrian crossing, helicopter view.



At North Terrace uni students and school groups were entertained with a word sign that played on familiar train announcements followed by videos of buses. It was hard to tell these apart from the real things zooming by. With the clouds refusing to move on, it was appropriate to finish the day with an animation on rain.