Amphibious Architecture submerges ubiquitous computing into the water—the substance that makes up 90% of the Earth’s inhabitable volume and envelops New York City but remains under-explored and under-engaged. Two networks of floating interactive tubes, installed at sites in the East River and the Bronx River, house a range of sensors below water and an array of lights above water. The sensors monitor water quality, presence of fish, and human interest in the river ecosystem. The lights respond to the sensors and create feedback loops between humans, fish, and their shared environment. An SMS interface allows citizens to text-message the fish, to receive real-time information about the river, and to contribute to a display of collective interest in the environment.

Eventually some crow gets a bright idea that, “Hey, there’s lots of coins lying around from the first stage, lying around on the ground,” — hops down, picks it up, drops it in the slot. And then we’re off to the races. That crow enjoys a temporary monopoly on peanuts until his friends figure out how to do it, and then there we go. The main thing, the main point of all this for me is that we can find mutually beneficial systems for these species. We can find ways to interact with these other species that doesn’t involve exterminating them, but involves finding an equilibrium with them that’s a useful balance. — Joshua Klein, Ted Talks, “Joshua Klein on the Intelligence of Crows”, 2008

Like a lot of our movies, we chose for our subject, something we three New Yorkers have taken for granted growing up in this city. I can’t speak for Dallas and Rafi but I’m fond of the knish, the pretzel, the hot dog and very occasionally the bootleg DVD. Before we made this movie I never really wondered who comprised the workforce that brought me these city delights. Sadly, I think it’s human nature to push a lot of stuff into the background. Hopefully, this movie shines a little light on a population that has had its business and its rights compromised by an effed the eff up economy, an overzealous police force and the lobbying efforts of Big Retail.— Casimir Nozkowski InternetsCelebrities.com, “The Vend Diagram”, 2008