April 28, 2013 Dear Public Art Commissioners and Stakeholders: We are excited to submit this letter of intent

for the call Temporary Artwork for the University Ave Tunnels. Lead Artist Robin Lasser with collaborators Marguerite Perret, Margeaux Walter, and collaborator / technical producer G. Craig Hobbs. For this proposal we are interested in exploring the intersection of historic and contemporary imaging animation technology, originally developed by Eadweard Muybridge and sponsored by Leland Stanford in a wager that involved the question; when a horse is trotting, do all four hooves ever leave the ground at the same time? Muybridge had to figure out a way to capture several images in sequence. He decided to place several cameras in a row all pointing in the same direction and trigger them in sequence as the horse galloped past thus creating an animated grid of the galloping horse. We propose to work with contemporary imaging technology that requires viewer engagement for animation and is triggered as pedestrians walk through the tunnel. The viewers ocular system animates imagery and human movement triggers sound elements that travel, like dominos, up and down the two hundred foot long passage. The subject matter of the experienced sonic and visual space may reflect human and animal diasporas; creatures that tour through, settle in, and adapt to urbanized Silicon Valley. The sonifications and visualizations of immigration/migration data define the installation platform. Citizens who transverse the tunnel connecting academia and township activate this integrated installation that spotlights human, mammal, and bird migratory and settlement adaptations to the urban environment. We propose to partner with spatial geographers from Stanford, along with citizens residing in Palo Alto and include elements of their research and stories in the creation of an immersive sound and image site - specific installation that wows, activates, and energizes the University Ave Tunnels. Shifts in adaptation for human and animal occupants of the area are reflected in the work through visual, spatial and sonic means to address the process, figures, and movement of migration effected by technology and human transformation of the urban landscape. Our collaborative discussions to date have addressed the aspects of migration that humans can mitigate, access and impact upon other species and the landscape, leading us to the classic metaphor of the canary in the coal mine. The difference being, unlike the canary, we have control over the environmental outcomes of these migratory paths. We hope to bring an organic experience to the subterranean space of the University Avenue tunnel through attention to the flow of commuters, species, and technology. We are particularly interested in the juxtaposition of migratory flow through the tunnel with the alcoves connecting the walkway to the roadway. These alcoves could serve as framing devices for imagery printed on fabric taking the form of colorful flags that might be suspended in the openings between the two spaces. The vandal resistant fabric provides a soft touch within this built environment. The walls between each alcove may be animated with lenticular photographs. Lenticulars are an interactive photographic process that compresses multiple images into one plane, producing the effect of animated motion and 3D display. Lenticulars are both fun and engaging; when a viewer moves in front of them, the images change creating a magical, interactive experience. The 3D and animated motion infuses a sense of aliveness and wonder. Speakers would be secured along the length of the tunnel. The animated sounds reverberating from speaker to speaker sonically amplify and connect to the subject matter addressed in the imagery. The sounds are activated by commuters walking through the space and modified by data dynamically collected on site. The imagery will be incased and vandal resistant. Audio components and computer are secured in a lock box and installed with a security bolting system. All artwork and technical support will be vandal resistant, safe, and will not impede the existing infrastructure and function of the space.

Lead Artist Robin Lasser is a Professor of Art and Coordinator of the Photography Program at San Jose State University. Lasser produces photographs, video, and site-specific sculpture, sound and light public art installations dealing with socially and culturally significant imagery and themes. Lasser often works in a collaborative mode partnering with other artists, writers, students, scientists, stakeholders, and members of

the community to produce interactive and immersive public art. Lasser is interested in producing temporary public art that serves as a destination landmark, a spectacle that includes the local community, its history and culture. The work resides at the intersection of nature and culture. Lasser is currently working on a collaborative project with Adrienne Pao titled Dress Tents, wearable architecture that conflates public art, fashion, performance art, and photography. (http://www.robinlasser.com) The most recent public art commission, 2012-2013, Edible Garden Dress Tent, is currently on display at the Montalvo Art Center in Saratoga, California. (http://www.edibledresstent.weebly.com) In 2011 we received a commission to create a public artwork titled: Ms. Yekaterinburgh: Camera Obscura Dress Tent and the U.S. State Department published a book about the international public art we created for Russia. (http://www.russianartexchange.weebly.com) In 2010 Lasser and collaborator Marguerite Perret received a $50,000 temporary public art commission from the San Jose Public Arts Program in collaboration with the ZERE01 International Arts Festival to create a sculpture, sound, and light public works titled: Floating World: A Campground/Tent City for Displaced Human and Bird Song. This temporary public artwork was installed in an environment similar to the University Ave Tunnels. The interactive sound and light sculpture was situated under an overpass, over a river, along a pedestrian walkway that connects the train station to downtown San Jose. All the elements in the integrated installation were vandal resistant, safe, and did not impede the existing infrastructure and function of the architectonic space. (http://www.afloatingworld.weebly.com)

Collaborator Marguerite Perret is a multimedia installation artist who explores issue-based, interdisciplinary connections between art, science and medicine. Perret has exhibited widely and has been commissioned to create large-scale, site-specific temporary public art works. She has been awarded a variety of artist residencies, project grants, and support to travel internationally where she documents natural history and medical museum collections as part of an ongoing project that explores the specimen/artifact as a product of how we consume nature and represent our bodies. Currently, Perret is an associate professor of art and design at Washburn University where she teaches digital imaging, foundations design and special topics courses in art and ecology, and science and art.

Collaborator and Technical Producer G. Craig Hobbs' work addresses themes at the intersection of nature, culture, and technology in the mediums of video, sound, and interactive programming. His projects integrate metadata, infrared computer vision, and open-source software for use in live cinema, locative media, and installation environments. Hobbs has produced large-scale art projects, installations, and films working with artists including Natalie Jeremijenko, Usman Haque, Blast Theory, Andrea Polli, Yung-Ta Chang and fabric | ch. Hobbs was the technical producer for the 01SJ Biennial in 2010, and has produced large public art projects in the cities of Toronto, Asheville, and Santa Cruz. He worked as a researcher and university lecturer at the University of California, Santa Cruz and California College of the Arts (CCA) in San Francisco, and is currently a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Digital Media Art at San Jose State University where he teachers courses in digital video, programming, games, and new media. Info about his projects and collaborations can be found on his website at gcraighobbs.com Collaborator Margeaux Walter is a multi-media photographer, video and installation artist who explores connections between environmental changes, human behaviors and technological advancement. Working with animations, lenticular technology and photography she creates large interactive installations, and intimate two-dimensional works that highlight specific moments, movements and interactions. She is currently working on several public projects proposals, and on a new series of lenticular photographs that flip between physical and psychological realities. She has been awarded residencies at Red Gate Gallery in Beijing, China, the Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga, CA. In 2009, the Magenta Foundation chose her as a top emerging photographer in the United States; she was awarded Jurors Choice at the Butler Institute of American Arts National Midyear Exhibition; and she was commissioned to create a large-scale outdoor installation for the Art Omi Fields Sculpture Park in Ghent, NY. Her work has been included in various shows around the country, including solo exhibitions at the Nohra Haime Gallery in New York, and Winston Wachter Fine Art in Seattle and New York.