Stepping out of the tradition of American land art, movement artist Karl Cronin is developing three large-scale “earth tattoos” through a series of performance rituals responding to observable indicators of ecosystem health. Cronin will use his GPS-tracked body as ink, and the streets of South Brooklyn (NY), and the desert outside of Santa Fe (NM) and Chihuahua (MX) as skin.
The GPS-inscribed designs will be overlaid on regional maps at www.earth-tattoo.com, where technologist Carl Tashian will create an algorithm that will cause the online images of the temporary earth tattoo to remain or fade in real time based on local sample data of a regionally-specific indicator of environmental health. The digital path created by Cronin’s performance will “decay” on the website if the general health/presence of the ecosystem health indicator diminishes.
Timeline
June – Aug, 2009 R&D in Brooklyn (NY)
Sept – Nov, 2009 Earth Tattoo in Santa Fe (NM)
Mar – May 2010 Earth Tattoo in Brooklyn (NY)
Sept 2010 Earth Tattoo in Chihuahua (MX)
For more info or to get involved: contact at dryearth dot org
