PROXY Florence was exhibited at the Beyond Media 2009 Festival, Visions in Florence, Italy from July 9th to the 17th.

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PROXY Florence is a dynamic map and a collective story of Florence created through the interplay of virtual space and physical space and the interaction of 500 collaborators from 27 countries.

The project used facebook to connect and collaborate. It used Google Panoramio’s interface to collect and organize the individual images of Florence captured, envisioned, or remembered by each of the 500 contributors from across the globe. PROXY Florence used Variable Data Printing to convert the individual images collected into 500 unique, tangible postcards that were organized spatially by their coordinate data.

These images were mapped according to the image’s remembered or imagined location. These numerous images were returned to their origin in Florence, Italy and specifically, as a scale down version of this city, at Stazione Leopolda, the space of the exhibition. The focus of PROXY 1.0 was [43°46’22”N – 11°15’27”E] from July 9 – 17.

The visitors of this event were invited to dismantle the exhibit by removing the postcard of their choice. By taking a postcard, mailing to a friend, the cycle is continued. If you took a postcard in Florence, register your postcard.PROXY Florence is mapping the route of the image and connecting the recipient of the postcard with the origin of the photo and its taker.

Thanks for participating! Thanks also to our sponsors and to everyone who worked on this project!!! For more information contact Martha Skinner at marthas@clemson.edu

Sponsors: Clemson Advancement Foundation, Clemson University / Fieldoffice / McMahan Fund for Excellence, Clemson University School of Architecture / College of Architecture, Arts & Humanities, Clemson University / Modern Postcard / Each of our 500 collaborators /