Hey G20!

September 2009

On September 24-25, 2009 the G-20 Summit took place at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, where G-20 leaders, representing 80% of the world's trade and two-thirds of the world population, determined policies affecting our economic and financial futures. The talks and economic decisions are not open to the public and only filtered information is disclosed to the media and public. The City of Pittsburgh, in response to fears of protest and unrest and in the name of safety, cordoned off most of downtown Pittsburgh from the public, keeping protestors, concerned citizens or the general public far away from the Convention Center.

To foster engagement despite the insularity of these talks, Osman Khan, and Elliance, collaborated to develop heyG20 as a forum that allowed concerned citizen's of the world to voice their thoughts and opinions to the Leaders of the G20 Summit. The project was an interactive installation that took place during the G-20 Summit in the windows of Elliance's offices located directly across the river from the Pittsburgh Convention Center. The installation was a guerilla action against the city's rigid measures to restrict voices of protest.

Interested participants were asked to tweet their message to @heyG20 (http://twitter.com/heyG20), whereby their messages was encoded into Morse code and transformed into a multicolored light show, projecting individuals' messages to the members of the summit across the river. Illuminating not only the night sky but also the concerns of the world's citizens.

Material: Computer, Custom Software, DM controller, Stage Lighting, Gels