UMBRELLA.net

This work is typical of much digital art because it is an artwork that places importance on:

Formal instruction

The umbrella.net system works with a 10 Bluetooth-equipped umbrella with an accompanying Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) which runs the networking software. When it rains, participant can open and initiate the network connection. With bright LEDs, different people are recognized as 3 status: Pulsing red if searching for nodes, Pulsing blue if connected to other umbrellas, Flashing blue if transmitting data between umbrellas. 

The concept rather than the art project

"Coincidence of need" can be defined as seemingly individual activities that are also common experiences based on factors beyond the individual's immediate control." (http://www.mee.tcd.ie/~moriwaki/umbrella/system.php)

The act of opening an umbrella is a "Coincidence" when rain begins to fall. Participants may not know whether the person next to his/ her is a participants of umbrella.net or not, until rain falls.   The connection between the umbrella creates an invisible social network without verbal communication. Participants are "connected" and feel like they belong to a particular group of people. 

The event and Audience participation

The audience participation is indeed important in these events. 

(you can send a message to people around you)

The audience participation is indeed important in umbrella.net. The audience are gather together in a particular open place and time. When all the umbrella opens, it creates a visualized scenery that is very beautiful and stunning. The audience is the most essential element of this art movement. This network art emerge the human participation with the technology with randomness and fun.

An interest in random events/ or chance

Umbrella.net really interests me because of its randomness. It will be a great "coincidence" that the one who passes by maybe a participant of Umbrella.net. It creates a enormous social communication network by really partaking it instead of sitting in front of the computers and typing words and programmes. 

Borrowing or appropriation

This artwork reminds me of the early networked art- Dada. Dada is connected by a bunch of unrelated sentence, words together. Same as Umbrella.net, which is making unrelated people become connected. They are strange people, but through Umbrella.net, they can know each other and communication.