H Street NW (disquiet0037-asrealasitgets1) Track

I realize that this recording really stretches the notion of "retail" but in the process of thinking about this week's assignment I wanted to go ahead and post it anyway. Even if it won't get selected for inclusion in the exhibition later this year, it sparked an idea for a project that perhaps others would be interested in.

Here was my thought process: commuting costs are paid for at retail and the buses in DC have equipment which allows user to purchase/add value to their transit cards (tap card, press button to add value, add currency, press button to confirm value added, tap card to sync value, tap card again to deduct fare for the ride you are taking). That process in and of itself has a rhythm/pattern which would be fun to capture. But, what really interested me the most was the way in which different drivers actually drive - everyone has their own unique style, a sort of "driving fingerprint" if you will. Some have a consistent pace while others have spurts of rapid acceleration and others still tend to tap the breaks/speed up in erratic ways. So, I wanted to capture the "driving fingerprint" of one of the drivers on a section of my morning commute. There are relatively few clicks/beeps of the fare machine (apparently I was sitting too far away from it) but you can clearly hear the pattern in the engine rev'ing up/slowing down over the course of the last few minutes on my ride.

This got me thinking - the buses in DC also have geo-tracking data that is open-source and accesible to anyone knowledgeable enough. I kind of want to do more of these sonic "driving fingerprints" throughout the city and collect them/map them. Maybe others in their own cities would find this interesting. Who knows. Making cities safer through art?

At any rate, I really appreciate your time if you read this far and/or listened to my bizarre recording. Thanks everyone!

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This Disquiet Junto project was done in association with the exhibit As Real As It Gets, organized by Rob Walker at the gallery Apex Art in Manhattan (November 15 - December 22, 2012):

http://apexart.org/exhibitions/walker.php/

More on this 37th Disquiet Junto project at:

http://disquiet.com/2012/09/13/disquiet0037-asrealasitgets1/