The New Velocity is a machine that plots the phantom Sandy Island in digital domains. By reproducing the same phenomenological conditions upon which the island was seen in 1876, it seeks to reinsert the charting glitch that endured in worldwide maps until 2012. The machine records new datasets that support the further existence of the island by manipulating its digital presence.
Sand piles are scanned by an infrared proximity sensor, which moves up and down over a platform replicating the movement of a ship floating over the high seas. The spacial data is mapped and visualized in realtime. The machine operates under four different preset modes, one for each dataset it records: coastline coordinates, water depth surroundings, topographical elevation and digital geotagging. Each set of datasets evidences the presence of an islet within the island’s range, and is posteriorly uploaded to Sandy Island’s open data bank for spreading.
The project investigates a charting error that persisted in cartographic maps even after the advent of digital media. It speculates how data and physical phenomena are entangled, and how in contemporaneity, the two have the same weight under digital media. The New Velocity explores how the phenomenon of Sandy Island happens only under certain speeds, when piles of sand and piles of data have the same faulty consistency.
The generated datasets can be accessed at Sandy Island's open database:
Year of production/release: 2015/2016.
Developed at the University of the Arts Bremen (Digital Media Program).
Conceptual support: Prof. Dennis P. Paul.
2015 Creative Applications Network
The New Velocity – "The faulty consistency of cartography”
Filip Visnjic. London, UK.
2016 Dezeen Magazine
Luiz Zanotello's New Velocity machine plots the position of a phantom island
Emma Tucker. London, UK.
2016 Arduino.org
Makers: The New Velocity
Margarita Baxter. Boston, US.
2016 Experimenta Magazine
The New Velocity o el enigma de Isla Arenosa
Carmen Aldama. Mardid, ES.
2016 Adafruit Blog
Raspberry Pi Powered Artwork Charts Undiscovered Island
New York, US.
2016 Diario Design
The New Velocity: sobre la isla que aparece y desaparece
Elena Minguela. Barcelona, ES.
2016 Catálogodiseño
Luiz Zanotello utliza montones de arena para trazar la ubicación de la mítica Isla Sandy
Elena Minguela. Santiago, CL.
2016 Atmel Blog
This machine plots the phantom Sandy Island
Jeremy S. Cook. San Jose, US.
2016 Hochschultage
Group exhibition. University of the Arts Bremen. Bremen, DE.
2015 Hacks + Hoaxes
Group exhibition. Galerie Herold. Bremen, DE.