This is the fall semester final presentation I gave for my thesis 'Tread Erosion'. The project takes aerial video of people walking and computationally translates that into a sculpture. The concept derives from the similarities between human patterns and braided river system. It is based on the question, what would happen if people had the ability to erode a space through movement, just as rivers erode canyons?

1. lynn maharas
tread erosion
sculpting spatial systems

2. concept

4. tread erosion
remaps the system of natural flow
created by human traffic through
interactive sculpture

5. motivation

27. design questions

28. how do you map the invisible?

33. how do our movements effect our
environments?

37. can additive patterns of flow
be revealed through
sculpture?

38. theory

39. heidegger
The Question Concerning Technology

40. “Enframing is the way in which the real
reveals itself”
heidegger
The Question Concerning Technology

41. heidegger
The Question Concerning Technology

42. “...in the mode of ordering....”
heidegger
The Question Concerning Technology

44. how it works

47. “…had a tendency to change with everyone who stepped onto it, as if it
formed a figure about him that, clearly, had nothing to do with the
square as he saw it…”.
benjamin

48. “…had a tendency to change with everyone who stepped onto it, as if it
formed a figure about him that, clearly, had nothing to do with the
square as he saw it…”.
benjamin

49. “…had a tendency to change with everyone who stepped onto it, as if it
formed a figure about him that, clearly, had nothing to do with the
square as he saw it…”.
benjamin

50. benjamin
Hashish in Marseilles

51. benjamin
Hashish in Marseilles

52. benjamin
Hashish in Marseilles

53. benjamin
Hashish in Marseilles

54. max analysis

55. dirk helbing
physicist / sociologist @
The Swiss Institute of Technology

56. # of paths = (# of users) x (time for weather to erode path)
users visibility
dirk helbing
physicist / sociologist @
The Swiss Institute of Technology

57. dirk helbing
physicist / sociologist @
The Swiss Institute of Technology

58. max output

59. sketchup interpolation

60. sketchup interpolation

61. style board

62. style board

63. Daniel Ashram
quot;Untitled (Project for Dior)quot; 2005
style board

64. style board

65. Daniel Ashram
quot;Wall Erosion (Passage)quot; 2008
style board

66. gallery installation

67. gallery installation

68. gallery installation

69. gallery installation

70. gallery installation

71. feedback

72. questions / comments?
feedback

73. feedback

74. other precedents?
feedback

75. feedback

76. thank you