Inlak’esh Alaken

[I am you, you are me]
The practice of intercultural engagement

Joanna Patricia Ambrosio Guerrero
BDesign, Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente, Mexico, 2006

A thesis submited in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of:
Masters of Applied Art in Design + Media
Emily Carr University of Art + Design, 2009

© Joanna Ambrosio, 2009

Abstract
Picosito para que
alcance, saladito
para que sobre /
Spicy to make it
last, salty to have
some left

As a designer, I have been identified as problem-solver, and rarely as problem-identifier. Designers have the opportunity to make a significant difference in society, and help in the development of conscious citizens from a
wide range of cultures and languages.
Intercultural interaction has increased within this globalized community,
and it has become part of our lives. As a foreign communication designer,
I have identified the importance of intercultural understanding, so we don’t
alienate each other, and help develop shared experiences and collaborative
projects when the same language, time and/or space may not be shared.
This research study promotes the exploration of the process of a designer
becoming a researcher and a thinker who collaborates within a multicultural community. It is an extended exploration of my previous experience collaborating for Mátika Magazine within an international group of designers,
visual artists and writers. Therefore, it explores the different possibilities
that hybrid design brings to a stream of creative disciplines, and how this
diversity can be used as a tool to expand the relationship between space,
culture and creativity.
Within this paper, I describe the process and outcomes of developing the
project Inlak’esh Alaken. This project took form with an event hosted at the
same time in three different cities: Vancouver, Guadalajara and Los Angeles.
By pushing further the possibilities of online network services, a live video
of each event was streamed online and projected in each place. Within this
project, I practice the research of different technologies to create urban art
as an exploration of new ways to communicate between different cultures.
Therefore, every participant in each city shared the same performance
with the use of Graffiti Wall and Laser Tag. With the use of these tools of
non-verbal communication, the participants were asked to interact with the
others and communicate at the same time in different places.

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Abstract

Within this research and the process of my work, I aim to push the boundaries of traditional communication design, and share a body of knowledge
that might help other communication designers in the process of becoming
researchers and agents of social change. I share the process of becoming a visual journalist, and how we as designers can develop a method of
documentation that accounts for the moods and concerns of our society,
bridging different environments and translating the outcomes into seductive graphics of information.

iii

Table
of Contents
Abstract
Table of Contents
List of Figures
Preface
Acknowledgements
Dedication
1. Introduction
2. The Project: Inlak’esh Alaken
2.1. Inlak’esh Alaken Live
2.2. Graffiti Wall
2.3. Laser Tag
2.4. The Event Itself
2.5. The Brief
3. Methodology
3.1. Changing the Quality of the Day
3.2. Influences and Inspirations
3.3. Experimentation
3.3.1. Mediafesto
3.3.2. Light over Rain
3.3.3. Graffiti Wall
3.3.3. Tele.fone
3.4. Placemaking
3.5. Intercultural Performance
3.6. The Global and the Local
4. The Process
4.1. Research
4.3. People
4.3. Technology
4.4. Place
5. First Impressions
6. Conclusion
Footnotes
Bibliography

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iv
v
vi
xi
xii
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4
5
6
7
8
10
12
12
13
15
15
16
17
18
21
23
24
26
26
27
28
28
30
34
38
40
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List
of Figures
Figure 1: Inlak’esh Alaken Live. View of the projection of Inlak’esh
Alaken Live. March 2009.

5

Figure 2: Graffiti Wall. Professional graffiti artist using the Graffiti
Wall tool. At his right it is shown a drawing form the
graffiti artist in Mexico, as he is drawing at the same
time. March 2009.

6

Figure 3: Laser Tag. Participant using the Laser Tag tool at Inlak’esh
Alaken event. March 2009.

7

Figure 4: Technological Dreams. Graffiti mural in Guadalajara,
Mexico. A collaboration of five graffiti artists from Mexico
and Germany for Mátika Magazine. December 2007.

13

Figure 5: Laser Tag. Participants using the Laser Tag tool at the
Mediafesto event. March 2008.

15

Figure 6: Light over Rain. Frame taken from a video documentation
of Light over Rain. October 2008.

16

Figure 7: Post Crew. Development of a digital mural with the
Graffiti Wall tool. December, 2008.

18

Figure 8: Flickr Tele.fone. Screenshot of the current Flickr account
with uploaded images, March 16th, 2009.

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v

Preface
A Dios rezando y
con el mazo dando
/ To God praying
and with the mallet
hitting

As a designer who had limited experience in the philosophy of design and
wishing to live in constant movement, I found myself in a place surrounded
by water (sky and ground), and with a bag full of Mexican treats and a heart
filled with aspirations, I settled in Vancouver.
Determined to pursue a Masters program, which could amplify my skill
set and knowledge in developing new media art, I entered the Masters of
Applied Art in Media Arts at Emily Carr University. I hoped to learn new
technologies, applications and innovative computer software to (someday)
apply it while developing creative motion graphics and attractive digital
design forms for a “very important” set of clients. I hardly felt the necessity
of joining the Design stream; this might have been due to the fact that (unconsciously) I saw myself as a developer, but never as a thinker designer 1 .
From the beginning I was encouraged to play, research and explore. “What
should I explore?” I thought, “Play how?” By the third week of grad school,
most of my peers were “working” on their projects, and I didn’t know what
I was supposed to do. The confusion grew. While most of them were creating pieces of artwork, I was thinking: “I’m a designer. I work if I get an
assignment or if I see a problem. What if I’m not questioning anything? Am
I supposed to be questioning something and finding the answer by designing?” Throughout my professional development, I was taught to act as a
problem-solver 2 , graphically solving issues such as the lack of corporate
identity of certain companies, designing a functional storefront graphic
or developing a gorgeous, brand-new tequila bottle. Acting as a problemidentifier 3 was not as developed as the act of problem-solving. Identifying
a problem without any background or brief was a challenge that I had to take,
and designing my own brief of in-depth reflection was my first mission.
While I was swimming in my own confusion, I was also working on the new
issue of Mátika Magazine5 . Every edition of the magazine involves a different
graphic and editorial theme (e.g. Pop-art, Art Nouveau, Mexican-Art) and this
time the title was Urban Art: Appropriation of the Cities.

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Preface

Working as part of a team of communication designers, artists and writers from
around the world, intercultural6 (and international) communication is essential.
The Mátika team had to get together to creatively develop the project Mátika Magazine in a specific period of time. Sharing international experiences,
knowledge and practice, people from Mexico living in Germany, Spain, United
States and Canada got together online and communicated via Skype7 . The use
this tool served as a forum for discussion, and as a window to the place the
participants were living in.
To develop my graphic design piece as part of the collaboration for the new
magazine’s issue, I had to do some research on Urban Art and decided to go
downtown to take some photos of Vancouver. I felt immediately attracted to the
not-so-underground culture of art I was experiencing. As I was designing for
the magazine using photo and illustration collages, I was also researching the
art of graffiti-making and the biography and portfolios of urban artists such as
Obey, Banksy, Mark Jenkins, Graffiti Research Lab and women artists like Fifi
and Thundercuts.
The extended discovery of graffiti and other types of street artwork changed
my perspective on how I looked at the city. The interaction between citizens
and their built environment, and the use of technology and new media to create
urban art, was quite appealing to me.
As a communication designer struggling to identify myself in the Media Arts
environment, where film and animation studies were developed, I found a lack
of understanding of where I was. For a moment, I felt that my motivations and
aspirations followed by a background of visual graphic communications were
heading in the wrong direction. I needed to change the curse of my objectives
for the better.
As an MAA program requirement, I applied for several internship programs.
One in particular caught my eye, an internship working as a communication
designer for Greenschool, in Bali, Indonesia. Sponsored by Greenschool and
Emily Carr University of Art and Design, the three months of living in a
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Preface

sustainable environment helping to develop an international elementary school
and spreading the message of sustainable living had little or nothing to do with
my thesis research. However, I felt that getting closer to my background as a
communication designer would help me to understand where I was standing,
and define the curse of my carrier.
And so, I got selected, and flew to Bali on June 2008.
I lived in a sustainable environment for a month, in the “intern campsite”,
located on the west side of an 80-hectare jungle-campus. I had to get used
to the compost toilets, the roosters, the computer and its electric shocks, the
daily rice meal and spicy hot chilies, the language, to the chants of the temples
at night, the lizards, cold showers and the green neighbor Mr. Frog. I had to get
used to being by myself, as I was the only intern and lived alone.
As a communication designer intern I helped Greenschool spread the word
about sustainable living and education. I decided to experience Bali as much as
I could, and every day after work, I spent my time documenting life in this Balinese community. Working in a place where English is rarely spoken, I studied
Indonesian just enough to get around. The lack of communication was added
to a list of challenges I faced every day. I became a type of journalist, sharing
intercultural experiences with the local people, understanding that their family
and their community are very important to them, as well as the awareness of
themselves, of others, of nature and of God. They are devoted to their surroundings, and every stage in their life is respected and honored. To support
my documentation, I kept a diary where I wrote and sketched my experiences
in Bali. These are some translated words from my personal diary:
June 8th, 2008
The scenery left me astonished. There is a temple in each and every
corner, and because it was Wisdom Day, people kept coming and going
with their best garments to deliver their offerings to the temples and
schools… unbelievable.

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Preface

The architecture, the magic… This is a place particularly beautiful. It
kind of looks like Jamaica8 or event a hidden road going to Puerto Vallarta, but then the jungle opens up and I can see the gorgeous rice fields,
beautiful, everything is so green.
After three months of experiencing life on a developing9 island I came back
to Vancouver. In addition to the almost two weeks of jet lag, I experienced an
unexpected culture shock. I became more aware that the Western Culture10
with its overwhelming bombardment of advertisements, mass media and mass
communication often teaches society to disconnect from its living environment.
“We know that the advertising language is militaristic. It is about campaigns,
squeezing out, wedging in, forcing out. It is about starving out the competition”
(Winkler, as cited in Frascara, 2002, p.58).
After finally settling down and taking back my former life, I reviewed my previous research in Urban Art and its purpose of changing the way society perceives its environment. I decided to bring my experience of living in three
different cities (Guadalajara, Vancouver and Bali), and working with people
from different cultural backgrounds and languages, to develop a project that
integrates urban art, intercultural communications, social engagement, and
experience design11.
I developed as a communication designer working internationally. With my updated documentation of the different cultures experienced, I decided to push
my research further and strove to find out how visual communication design
can make a social difference by developing tools for intercultural interaction
within open spaces. I was building my own design brief. I was becoming a
thinker designer.
Going back to my roots as a communication designer helped me to find my
soul. It forced me to stream back into my background and realized that I didn’t
belong in Media. Even though I constantly tried to give a productive critique to
my fellow classmates without knowing anything about filmmaking or animation, I
missed the productive organization and processes that only a designer can build.
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Preface

Without thinking twice, I added one more action to my loaded list of transitions:
I was transferred to the Design stream.
I shaped my knowledge with documented experiences. I became aware of my
purpose not only in this program, but also as a citizen designer12. I became
what I am now.

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I would like to acknowledge everyone who has contributed within this
transcendental experience. To all of you: gracias

xi

Dedico este cierre/comienzo de mi vida a mis almas inseparables:
Mamá, Juanjo, Arturo, Kenji, y a mi ángel de la guarda. Gracias por todo.

xii

1. Introduction
Más vale pájaro en
mano que ciento
volando / Better to
have one bird in
hand than hundred
flying

As an individual that has been living in constant transition, movement and
displacement, I aim to get a better understanding of the responsible designer as a visual journalist, focusing on the practice of intercultural and
social communication and interaction with the use of technology and urban
art as tools of engagement.
Within this paper, I present a detailed description of the main project developed during the last year of the Masters program: Inlak’esh Alaken. This
project reflects the documentation and practice in the search for an answer
to these research questions:
1.Do interactive, public events promote local, social engagement?
2.Do online video broadcasting promote intercultural understanding?
3.How does the designer become an interceptor between cultures and contribute to the development of communication when the same language is
not shared?
Inlak’esh Alaken, in Mayan language, means I am you, you are me. This is
how, traditionally, the Mayan people salute each other and their environment. Intercultural interaction as a phenomenon has existed since people
from different cultures have been encountering in different contexts. These
interactions have increased considerably, and have become part of our
everyday life.
When it comes to cultural differences, there is still a sense of “alienation”
within today’s social behavior. To decrease this sentiment of alienation, it
is important to bridge the gap between communities with different cultures
and learn how to communicate with each other. Intercultural communication as a phenomenon is not new. It is aligned with human movements
across the planet as well as the “history of images and the growth and use
of images in every facet of human life” (Burnett, 2004, p.20)
Within this research, I present the three main non-verbal language categories
dictated by Samovar & Porter (2003): bodily behavior, time and space. (p.15)
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Introduction

These three categories are projected within my work and the project Inlak’esh
Alaken. The category of bodily behavior is represented by the moving image and graffiti art. For the purpose of this essay, I use the term graffiti art
not to reference vandalism, but, rather, as part of a movement that goes
beyond spray cans and markers, bringing community engagement within
our society’s specific cultures, interests and histories. The categories of
time and space are represented by the three different cities that worked as
participants in this project: Vancouver, Guadalajara and Los Angeles.
In this essay I use Jorge Frascara’s (2004) definition of design: “a process
of conceiving, planning, projecting, coordinating, selecting, and organizing
a set of elements for the creation of visual communications” (p.2). After
reflecting on this definition, for the first time in my professional career I
could no longer consider myself a graphic designer. If I must identify myself
with a label, I prefer to be referred to as a hybrid designer. According to
Tony Dunne (n.d.), Head of Interaction Design at the Royal College of Art,
London “new hybrids of design are emerging. People don’t fit in neat categories; they are a mixture of artists, engineers, designers, thinkers. They
are in that fuzzy space and might be finding it quite tough, but the results
are really exciting” (as cited in Anonymous, 2006, p.8).
Within my work, I’m pushing forward the applications of visual communications, instead of developing a graphic design as an object. I explore
the process of expanding the channels of intercultural communication and
producing new meanings into our daily social interaction.
During the search for a personal identity, I was introduced to Rick Poynor’s
book Obey the Giant: Life in the Image World (2001). In this book, Poynor
talks about the role of the designer as a reporter, as a visual journalist
(p.185). This has been one of the theories that has most influenced my
work: the designer as a visual journalist.
Based on this theory of Jan Van Toorn, the designer as a visual journalist talks about how designers are living an identity crisis, to which Poynor
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Introduction

(2001) reflects: “the term graphic designer no longer seems adequate“
(p.185). In trying to identify the actual designer (also considered an author,
editor, producer, translator, performer and such) there has been confusion,
so to avoid this confusion he suggests another way of thinking about communication design. It sounds more or less like what the average designer
already does, but basically the visual journalist “captures and condenses
into seductive graphic forms the mood, concerns, inspirations, aspirations,
fads, obsessions and stylistic tics of the day, functioning as a constantly
updated report in the way we live now” (Poynor, 2001, p.185). This research
study describes my journey towards emerging as a visual journalist.
Through the course of the Masters program, I developed a series of experiments on new technologies to develop urban art, especially graffiti art. To
answer my previous research questions, I developed the project Inlak’esh
Alaken. This project was an event that took place in three different cities:
Guadalajara, Vancouver and Los Angeles. It was intended to promote local,
social engagement by bringing a local community of artists and designers
together, in each city, with the help of a social event. It was intended to
promote intercultural understanding by transmitting live from each city,
broadcasting video online and projecting these three live videos on big
screens, where the participants could interact live with the other cities. It
was also intended to develop new ways of communication when the same
language is not shared, with the help of new technologies to create graffiti,
such as Laser Tag and Graffiti Wall.
In this essay, I explain the process to develop the project, and how some
of these initial intentions had successful results, and how some initial intentions were not successful when the use of technology challenged the
desired outcomes of the project.
Within this research I hope to contribute a methodology for the development of new intercultural experiences, becoming a design researcher that investigates from a different perspective: the perspective of a visual journalist.

3

2. The Project
Ver para creer /
Must be seen to be
believed

Analyzing my previous research, I found the necessity to develop a project
as an experiment of Interaction Design from a communication designer’s
point of view, also involving art, media and curatorial practices. Nathan
Shedroff, in his article Information Interaction Design: A Unified Field of
Theory of Design (1994), defines Interaction Design as “essentially storytelling and telling. It is at once both an ancient art and a new technology”
(p.2). I wanted to develop a story-telling environment, where the participants could tell the stories and share common interactions within different
experiences.
Shedroff (1994) also explains how story-telling has always been affected by media (p.2). Currently, new media offers innovative possibilities for
story-telling that were never addressed before. Within my work, I used
technology and new media to develop an environment for the creation of
experiences, where the participants were asked to develop international
communication within a graffiti art performance. All this was accomplished
with the development of a social event.
Inlak’esh Alaken was part of the celebration of the 3rd Anniversary of Mátika
Magazine. In March 2009, the cities of Vancouver, Guadalajara and Los
Angeles became the main protagonists, where each city participated with a
local event. Considering the different culture and verbal language of each
city, a new expression towards an international society was developed,
this within an art performance, a performance of moving images, music and
graffiti art.
In Guadalajara, this event was hosted by Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios
Superiores de Occidente (ITESO), starting at 20:00 hrs CST and ending at
23:00 hrs CST. In Vancouver, this event took place in the Motion Capture
Studios, at Emily Carr University of Art and Design, starting at 18:00 hrs
PST and ending at 23:00 hrs PST. In Los Angeles, this event took place
in the facilities of Tuesday Creative Agency, starting at 18:00 hrs PST and
ending at 23:00 hrs PST.

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The Project

Inlak’esh Alaken involved three different projections and technological interventions installed in the same place, in each city. These installations
were titled: Inlak’esh Alaken Live, Graffiti Wall and Laser Tag.

2.1.Inlak’esh Alaken Live
Inlak’esh Alaken Live consisted in a large projection of a live broadcast
video from Guadalajara, Vancouver and Los Angeles, which was projected
in those three cities at the same time. Showing a small portion of the space
where it was recorded, and connected through the Day In A Life (DIAL)
platform, people interacted with each other live from these three different
locations. This means that someone in the event of Guadalajara saw and
interacted with another person in the events of Vancouver and Los Angeles
at the same time, and vice versa.

Figure 1.
Inlak’esh Alaken Live

In this hybrid-form of simulacra, communication and interaction, the mediated image spaces, “became more than just vehicles of communication. Images turned into intelligent arbiters of the relationships humans have with
their mechanical creations and with each other” (Burnett, 2004, p.221).
The participants of each city were informed of the live video broadcast, and
were encouraged to communicate with the participants in the other cities.

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The Project

2.2.Graffiti Wall
Produced and directed by Tangible Interaction Design, Graffiti Wall was an
installation in Vancouver and Guadalajara, where the participants developed digital graffiti on a rear screen. With the use of a spray can replica
with a built-in infrared LED light, the participants experienced digital graffiti art, collaborating with each other and developing collective murals.
With the use of online connections, the first intention was that whatever
the participants from Vancouver draw would be also shown in the screen
of Guadalajara, and vice versa. This way, an international collaboration was
intended to take place, where both cities (LA was not included in the development of Graffiti Wall) developed the same mural in different places.
The participants were taught the use of the “graffiti” tool. We, the producers of each event, as providers, did not intent to have any control over what
the participants were sketching. In some cases, they wrote and draw messages directed to the participants in other cities, generating new ways of
non-verbal communication, using a visual language based on text, movement, and sometimes bodily performance in front of the camera.
Figure 2.
Graffiti Wall

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The Project

Two main artists participated in the art of digital graffiti in Vancouver and
Guadalajara, and it was intended for them to work together on a digital
mural at the same time but in different places. Jeremy Crowle, participated
in Vancouver, and Reynaldo Alejandro “El Peque” Martínez participated in
Guadalajara. Unfortunately, Guadalajara experienced some technical difficulties during the event, where the Graffiti Wall was not properly working
to interact online, and this collaboration couldn’t take place the way it was
intended to.
This was an unexpected issue, and it only shows that technology can never
be 100% reliable, no matter how much we practice beforehand, technology
is still unpredictable. The intended intercultural interaction between these
two artists could not take place. However, each artist worked on different
pieces individually. This individual performance was specially valuable, since
it served as an inspiration for other non-graffiti artists to develop new techniques with this innovative tool of interaction.

2.3.Laser Tag
Figure 3.
Laser Tag

Developed by Graffiti Research Lab New York, Laser Tag V.02 is an application that can be projected into any type of surface (buildings, walls, bridges).

7

The Project

The participant points a laser pen over the projection surface and a stroke
simulating a graffiti brush follows this dot of light. This way, the user can
create text, images, illustrations, tags and a fair number of messages on
a large scale.
Throughout the event, the Laser Tag application was used in different environments. In Vancouver, it was projected indoors over a rear screen in
the same way Graffiti Wall was installed. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles and
Guadalajara, this application was projected over a building wall, which
exhibited a much larger scale of interaction. Since Los Angeles did not install the Graffiti Wall, Laser Tag was their source of visual communication.
They explored and experimented this tool as much as they could, while in
Guadalajara and Vancouver, the Graffiti Wall installation was the one that
attracted most participants.

2.4.The Event Itself
Within Inlak’esh Alaken, new global and local experiences were developed.
“With every experience, we acquire knowledge […] which is communicated
by building compelling interactions with others or with tools so that the
patterns and meanings in their information can be learned by others” (Shedroff, 1994, p.4). There was a development of new technological skills and
information not only through the use of networks, but also through the use
of different tools of non-verbal communication, such as music, Graffiti Wall
or Laser Tag. “When we act upon an object, we [can] also take into account
the action itself, […] the transformation can be carried out mentally. […]
The abstraction is drawn not from the object that is acted upon, but from
the action itself” (Piaget, cited in Turkle, 2007, p.38). With the reaction of
the participants to the action of communicating with others, I can go back
to the first research question and confirm that interactive, public events do
promote local, social engagement.

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The Project

Considering that this project was an experimentation of experiences, several limitations were considered from the begining: technology, time and
communication.
1. Technology:
No matter how advanced it is, we still cannot rely 100% on technology.
Some things that we considered could go wrong involved the internet connection (main priority), computer crash, lack of batteries for graffiti tools,
components braking from the use.
2. Time:
Working with three different cities, the organizers had to consider the time
difference. Without previous organization, each event could start earlier or
later than the other two.
3. Communication:
Successful communcation between organizers was a priority for a successful result. We had to be in constant communication with each other by radio
and other online chat services, such as Skype. We had to rely on this type
of mediums to communicate, and restrict to their limitations.
Considering these limitations, different forms of communication took place
between the participants and the organizers as well, and with the mix of visual graphics and background music, different sensorial experiences were
created.
These experiences developed within a local and a global context, produced
different types of knowledge, either personal (from each participant) or
collective. This knowledge was introduced by the use of images, to which
Burnett (2004) explains:
The imagescapes and image-worlds that are being built recast what
it means to engage with culture and context. It is not enough to claim
that information communicated over networks is simply an add-on to
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The Project

existing forms of communications. Rather, image-worlds are dependent upon, and make possible, broader forms of interaction not only
among people and images, but also between people and the communities in which they live (p.220).
Do images, then, promote intercultural understanding? This project does
not fully answer this second research question, however, it does bring the
principles to develop an environment where intercultural understanding
can be informed through the use of images, and the help of online networks for video broadcasting. I hope to push this experience further, and
use these tools to create bridges between different communities that share
similar social or political issues, such as migration, war or geographical
separation.

2.5.The Brief
Within the process of the development of this project, I followed certain
criteria based on different contexts, putting together a design brief for
my personal knowledge. The event happened in three different cities, but
I was physically present only in the production of the event in Vancouver.
Therefore, I am enlisting the contexts developed within the event installed
in Vancouver:
Inlak’esh Alaken took place in the Motion Capture Studios at Emily Carr University. It is a black room that accommodated three different projections screened
at the same time. Watching the projection of the live video broadcast from the
three cities was a very important part of the interaction, so this projection was
installed in the back/center of the room. The camera that was recording the
event in Vancouver was placed below the projection screen, letting the participants interact with the other cities as if they were facing them (the way we do
with our computer and a webcam). The installations for Graffiti Wall and Laser
Tag were facing each other, simulating a “war” of graffiti art technology. These
projections were set on each side of the main projection (video broadcast), so
that the whole interaction could happen in the middle of the room.
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The Project

The setup for each event was previously practiced. With the use of hand
drawn sketches, I described every cable, plug-in, connection, equipment
and location necessary for the event setup, which eventually was adapted
for each city. Nonetheless, we experienced some technical difficulties, especially while trying to get the three cities started at the same time. Guadalajara experienced the most delay in setting up the Graffiti Wall, although
it did not affect the interaction between Vancouver and Los Angeles.
The participants were mainly students, faculty and staff from Emily Carr,
although people from outside of this community came to participate as
well. An extended international community forms Emily Carr, thus, the values, languages, habits, codes and attitudes of each participant changed
individually, enriching the local experience of participation and intercultural
communication.
The level of technical expectations of the participants differed individually.
Some of them were not surprised with the tools of interaction present in
the event, but some others stayed for a long period of time, exploring and
experimenting these tools, manifesting their emotions and excitement. Before and during the event, the participants were informed of the process of
interaction, and the instructions of how to use each tool to develop digital
graffiti. The same participants determined the time each participant took
to use the Graffiti Wall’s spray cans, or the laser pointer for the Laser Tag.
There was no control over the personal use of the tools, producing a margin
of uncertainty over the final results.

11

3. Methodology
Al que no habla,
Dios no lo oye / He
or she who doesn’t
speak out, God
won’t listen to

Within the process of answering my previous research questions (1.Do
interactive, public events promote local, social engagement? 2.Do online
video broadcasting promote intercultural understanding? 3.How does the
designer become an interceptor between cultures and contribute to the development of communication when the same language is not shared?) I developed a methodology based on experimentation and documentation, working on becoming a visual journalist and developing as a thinker designer.
Following is a description of each phase of my research and practice,
which evolved into my personal methodology.

3.1 Changing the quality of the day
As I mentioned earlier in this essay, at the beginning of my Masters’ studies, I engaged with the street art 13 movement as part of my initial research.
What most captivated me about this movement was how these manifestations were the result of collaboration, different minds working together to
change the quality of the day. It is art that is free, living where real life is
happening, away from museums and galleries. It brings an element of surprise and draws our attention to what we look at every day but no longer
see, usually bringing a message about our society, about us. If Modern Artists dedicated their lives to Art, then street artists dedicate their art to Life
(Scwartzman, 1985, p.106).
Graffiti art has been developed as a way to communicate a message to a
wider range of audience. It is a form of self-expression that goes back to
the beginning of culture. Currently, new technologies have been developed
to create graffiti art, and as part of my research I followed the works of Graffiti Research Lab (Laser Tag) and Tangible Interaction Design (Graffiti Wall).
Both urban art interventions explore what goes beyond traditional graffiti
art, beyond spray cans and markers. They develop a sense of absence,
instead of a sense of presence. In other words, they explore a digital form
12

Methodology

Figure 4.
Technological Dreams

of expression that has certain movement and can be erased with the hit
of one key, contrary to traditional graffiti art, where the presence of the
work is longer and static. They explore different tools of interaction, where
the use of light replaces the use of toxic materials (spray paint) to create
a performance.
These new experiences provide a different way of communication, where
non-verbal language can be shared. Therefore, within my work I brought
together these new tools of interaction, with an extended possibility to send
a message to a broader audience, where international interactions can be
experienced, and new collaborations can take place.

3.2 Influences and Inspirations
To get to the project Inlak’esh Alaken, I had to previously develop a series
of experiments, and research a fair amount of new technologies and current projects that use visual communication to develop a message.
Besides the research of new technologies to create urban art, I also researched
artists whose works influenced my practice, such as Christopher Baker, Banksy,
Shepard “Obey” Fairey, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Krzysztof Wodiczko.
13

Methodology

1.Christopher Baker: artist that explores social, technological and ideological networks present within the urban landscape. His project Urban Echo
(2008) consisted in public, interactive projections on buildings’ facades,
representing SMS sent by participants in a flowing cascade of letters and
sounds. This work in particular showed a new perception of our built environment, and it was one of the first close approaches I had to light projections. His way of linking technology and social engagement influenced my
future practice.
2.Banksy: internationally recognized visual artist, whose political and social
messages are either admired or banned around the World. His determination to send a message based on politic criticism and sarcasm was quite
inspiring to the development of my future work. At the end, I didn’t follow
a political ideology, rather than a social ideology.
3.Shepard “Obey” Fairey: similar to Banksy, this recognized graffiti artist
and designer influenced my practice within the research of phenomenology, and how a message can be globally shared with the collaboration of
the society, helping in the development of conscious citizens.
4.Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: visual artist that develops large-scale interactive installations in public spaces. His use of technology and custom-made
physical interfaces influenced my work in the hope of develop a space for
people to interact within an open space in an urban environment. This was my
initial intention, and I hope to follow it with the development of future work.
5.Krzysztof Wodiczko: visual artist who produces large video-projections over
buildings’ facades. His work is internationally recognized as a severe critique
of political issues. His collaboration within communities to develop his work
inspired the development of my practice, wishing to give a voice to citizens who
are somewhat silenced or have the need to share a common ideology.

14

Methodology

3.3 Experimentation
To get to the project Inlak’esh Alaken, I had to previously develop a series
of experiments, including the development of Mediafesto, Light over Rain,
a documentation of the Graffiti Wall usage, and Tele.fone.

3.3.1 Mediafesto
By the end of March 2008, the Media students hosted an Open House
called Mediafesto, in which several Masters students exhibited their media
artwork at the Intersection Digital Studio (IDS). At this stage, I was investigating the technologies to develop interactive graffiti art, and I wanted
to experiment with my recent discoveries. I installed an interactive rear
screen (double sided screen), to use the Laser Tag V.02. With the help of a
projector, a video camera, a laser pointer and a laptop with the Laser Tag
V.02 application installed, people started “laser tagging”. My first attempt
to explore new technologies to create urban art, participatory interaction,
new and forms of messaging was successful.
Figure 5
Laser Tag

15

Methodology

The development of this event confirmed the first research question: 1.Do
interactive, public events promote local, social engagement? Mediafesto
was an interactive social event that promoted social engagement within a
local community of artists and designers.

3.3.2 Light over Rain
One of the main characteristics of my initial intent was to develop a project
outdoors. As a designer, I needed to consider the challenges that could
come up during the development of the project. Living in Vancouver, I had
to consider the weather for projecting outside, especially during rainy season (if there is such a thing). Instead of working against the rain, I decided
to work with it and experiment with light over (through) water. With the
project Primal Source 14 from Haque Design & Research as main inspiration, I decided to explore the possibilities of projecting over the rain.

Figure 6.
Light over Rain

I set up a projector in a small dark room, projecting a colorful screensaver onto a wall. I setup a table between the projector and the wall, with
a plate on top of it, where I dripped water from a punched plastic bag. I
documented the process with video, and the results were unsatisfactory.
The dripping needed to be continuous and fluid (like a mist or heavy rain),

16

Methodology

and because rain can hardly be modified for my own benefit, it was hard
to identify any projection over the dripping water. I concluded that, in the
end, the inconsistent, soft rain of Vancouver would not affect the outcome
of the projection.

3.3.3 Graffiti Wall
In February 2008, I had the opportunity to meet Alex Beim, a communication designer who recently founded Tangible Interaction Design. One of
the first of its kind, this design studio creates full-on sensory experiences
where people can interact in the everyday physical world. I collaborated
with Alex for the documentation of the application Graffiti Wall, an installation based in making graffiti with light (similar to Laser Tag) using infrared
LED pens to “draw” over a rear screen. I wanted to document the experience of actual graffiti artists tagging with this interactive tool, analyzing
the participation more than the functionality of the tool.
This is how I met Jeremy Crowle. Vancouver based visual artist, Jeremy
works with a realistic style. His work has been showed internationally, and
has a strong background developing graffiti art. In December 2008, I gathered a team of artists lead by Jeremy Crowle and setup the environment for
documentation with photo and video. Each member of the team used the
pen, and tagged digitally for 8 hours in total. As part of the documentation,
I felt like interviewing these graffiti artists who where using the tool for
the first time. One of the main questions that I asked was how this tool of
interaction changed the main objectives of graffiti art.
To my surprise, Jeremy explained that he didn’t feel that the purpose of
graffiti art changed drastically with Graffiti Wall. Even though for him it
was challenging to use the digital tool instead of a spray can, he wanted to
smell the paint as he was “tagging” digitally. He mentioned that graffiti art
making is about delivering a message to the world with certain style, and in
this case he was using a screen instead of a wall to deliver that message.
It certainly steps further of the boundaries of traditional graffiti art, but
17

Methodology

Figure7.
Post Crew

he interpreted this interaction as a new tool to develop and study graffiti.
All these previous explorations made me reflect on the use of technology
and new media, and how these impact the outcome of the interaction. By
bringing a surprise factor with a certain tool provided to the participant,

multiple interactions could be present at the same time, making space for
collaborative participation and social engagement. Therefore, the technology tools can affect the outcome of the participants’ interaction.

3.3.4 Tele.fone
Tele.fone is an ongoing project developed for the Interactivity course for
the Masters program. In collaboration with Kara Pecknold and Jennifer
Sawrenko-Gellis, we developed a cell phone game using images instead of
text. The main purpose of this project was to consider image as a support
between communities that don’t share the same language.
The Cell phone has become the most common tool of communication (and
is more available than Internet) around the World. According to the International Telecommunications Union (2005), as of 2005 there was approximately one mobile phone subscription for every third person in the
18

Methodology

world, and there were 19 countries in which the number of mobile phone
subscriptions exceeded to the number of persons living in the country (as
cited in Ling, 2008, p.14).
The use of mobile phones in a global context is increasing considerably,
and the opportunities to combine its potential with new social networks
makes it more attractive for new (and current) cell phone users. It is becoming part of the world’s social media, where the possibilities of sharing
and communicating are expanding.
Within this project, we provided a social ritual. Ling (2008) defines ritual
as the “establishment of a mutually recognized focus and mood among
individuals” (p.9). Within this project, the ritual incites social cohesion, and
focuses in the outcome of a process within a certain group, rather than a
repetitive behavior. The ritual consisted in sending and receiving multimedia messages, following the instructions previously handed by us.
We gathered five international volunteers to participate with their mobile
phones (all of them with cameras) to investigate if an image can be used
instead of text to communicate. The idea was based on the game Telephone,
where a message is sent to one person, and that person has to share the
message with the next. We sent out five different questions (Where you
live/Where you work/How you get around –transport-/What you are eating/
What you wish for –dreams-/What you worry about -fears-) in the form of
an image. The first recipient had to guess what the question was for that
image, and send it to the next person as an answer, also in the form of an
image (with no text).
The process we have developed is the following:
We send the initial question to the first recipient in line, and he/she has to
reply with an image to a given phone number. This phone number is programmed to receive the image and automatically upload it to the project’s
Flickr account. Once uploaded to the Flickr account, we must send the last
19

Methodology

image replied to the next recipient in line, and so on. At the end of the
game, everyone can see the participants’ responses and which were the
original questions.
Figure 8.
Flickr Tele.fone

Because this is an ongoing project, it is not possible for me to describe
the outcome of these experiences and results of the interaction. So far, the
images already sent to the Flickr account as a response to the initial questions, show a variety of interpretations.
I am participating on the development of this project to answer the third
research question: How does the designer become an interceptor between
cultures and contribute to the development of communication when the
same language is not shared? Currently, I am not in the position of translating the images’ interpretations, since not all the questions have been
asked, nor answered. However, I conclude that this project is an initiator
on how the designer can overcome the challenge of verbal language and
become a problem-solver from the user’s perspective, and not from the
designer’s deduction. This can be developed by combining visual language
and interactive communication through local and available technologies.
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Methodology

3.4 Place-making
Throughout the years, the meaning of the city has been evolving into modern
places for transport and communication. With the evolution of new forms of
technology, including transportation, computers and Internet, the city has
become a cluster of advertisement that little supports social engagement.
Ronald Lee Flaming, in his book Place Makers (1981), talks about the phenomenon of placelesness 15 and how we are living, transporting and moving
in spaces that never become places (p.7). Therefore, my initial intent was
to develop a space of engagement within the city, creating a place to bring
intercultural communities without the necessity of a social event.
Throughout my practice, I had little experience in the development of places for social engagement in open spaces. This became a limitation I could
not overcome throughout a determined period of time. Therefore, I changed
the course of this initial intention becoming a place-maker with the help of
a social event. With this experience, I am hoping to follow my initial intent
within my future work.
For the purpose of this paper, I define place and space according to Hisham
Eljadi’s definitions in his paper Identity: Glass and Meaningful Place-Making
(2005) where space is described as “an area configured by nature that
accommodates the evocation of feelings”, while place is described as “an
area in space designed to accommodate certain human activities” (p.92).
I am aware that the creation of false needs within an urban society develops a sense of superficiality, and that social engagement and communitybased activities are fading in a city of isolation and cyber communication.
I went back to Guadalajara, Mexico for the Christmas holidays of 2008, and
decided to explore the context I used to live in and how it has changed. I
found out that the most important topic of discussion in Mexico right now is
the internal war that is happening between the Cartels and the government.
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Methodology

It is said that the number of deaths as a result of kidnapping, public and
underground shooting and bombing is approximately the same as the number of civilians killed in the war at Iraq. Fortunately, in the state of Jalisco
(my hometown) things are not as bad, but in the nearby states people are
living in constant fear. This added to the financial crisis makes an unstable
society, and vandalism has increased considerably.
Informed by this particular situation, I went downtown to observe the plazas
and public spaces where people congregate, and analyze the society’s reaction to this particular subject of discussion. The public spaces were filled
with families enjoying the day, children playing around and couples walking
by. People were trying to live their lives normally, despite the problems that
surrounded them.
Compared to the contrasting Vancouver, I found the necessity to open a
window and share these differences in culture performed by the same citizens, experiencing a multicultural interaction. The world is full of different
realities, and unfortunately not all people are conscious of these realities.
The difference in culture, traditions, language and environment of each of
the places I have been to and lived in are rich in variety, and the interaction
between these places brings an interesting performance of the way we live
now as contrasting communities. This interaction of places is increasing
considerably, and new network of cultures are created.
Whether in the form of transnational political initiatives, global economies, new technologies or urban social movements, networks are the
distinctive characteristic of spatial organization in the twenty-first
century. Networks have changed our forms of cultural coexistence
and communication just as they have the way in which we produce
and experience spaces. Cities, regions, countries and continents are
being experienced less and less as fixed territories and increasingly
as fluid and contested landscapes, formed and mobilized by networks
of integrating realities (Mörtenböck & Mooshammer , 2008, p.15).

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Methodology

Becoming a place-maker with the use of networked technologies to reach a
wide range of participants opens an opportunity to develop a space where
several realities intersect.
Within my future work, I hope to follow the exploration of network technologies
at a bigger scale, where wider and broader audiences can be reached, linking
different communities that share the same political and/or social concerns.

3.5 Intercultural Performance
For many years, “film and video have been essential for the study of human behavior, as in investigations of interaction in the city space” (Collier,
1986, p.139) and many other points of study. Being a support for the study
of cultural phenomena, the tools of video and moving images contribute to
the perception of our surroundings, seeing, understanding and responding
to the character of an action, a place, or a group of people. As opposed to
photography or still images, film and video “can record the realism of the
time and motion or the psychological reality of varieties of interpersonal
relations”. (Collier, 1986, p.144)
Using the language of motion 17 , the image is defined by different characteristics like love and hate, anger and delight. The observer becomes
the participant, and therefore becomes the observed as well. The goal, to
quote Burnett (1995), is “to get away from the simple linearity of screen to
viewer, image to spectator, to overcome the notion that images are sources
of experience and sources of meaning” (p.137).
In the project Inlak’esh Alaken, the spectator becomes the participant, an
average citizen willing to be involved in this intercultural interaction. Assembled spectators or listeners at a public event form an audience. Because an audience mostly receives and does not participate in the action of
the spectacle, I refer to the main audience as participants 18 .

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Methodology

3.6 The Global and the Local
Every city around the globe is home to different cultures and nationalities.
It is quite rare for one city to be formed by a single culture, creating an
evolution of multicultural identities. Mulder (n.d.) frames that “we are no
longer present in a single place but continually co-present in many different places” (as cited in Anonymous, 2002, p.8). When we turn on the TV or
enter to social networks such as Internet blogs and websites, a high level of
international information flows through our visual perception. We now have
different concepts of local and global, and the city is still perceived as a local
place where our lives have some relevance. From an urban point of view, this
local place still owns different links to global cultures and contexts.
Motivated by a curiosity to share international experiences, knowledge and
practice, people from around the world get together online and communicate with different social network services. These networks, as Manzini (2006) explains, “are capable to catalyze large members of interested
people, […] build a common vision and direction, and develop even very
complex projects at the global scale (as in Wikipedia) or at the local one (as
in Meetup, SmartMobs and the BBC Action network)” (p.3).
Finding a commonality (e.g. Mátika Magazine project), these tools of interaction are starting to contribute to solving the conflict of large-scale social
communication issues, such as sharing political ideologies or people’s perception of life.
In his article Is there Love in Telematic Embrace (1989) Roy Ascott talks
about the relationship of culture, traditions and values to the transition
from reality to virtuality. He explains the following:
Telematic 19 culture amplifies the individual’s capacity for creative
thought and action for more vivid and intense experience, for more
informed perception, by enabling a participation in the production of
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Methodology

global vision through networked interaction with other minds, other
sensibilities, other sensing and thinking systems across the planet
– thought circulating in the medium of data through a multiplicity of
different cultural, geographical, social, and personal layers. (para.9)
For several years, many artists and researchers have been developing projects
regarding international networking through the Internet and the development of
intercultural (and inter-spatial) social engagement. One of the most recent examples –and the one that most relates to my work - is the project developed by
Horst Konietzny from Upgrade! Munich: A Day in A Life better known as DIAL.
DIAL brings the peculiarities and different characteristics of certain locations into contrast with one another. Different locations around the world
participate to be networked together via broadband technology. With real
time video/audio recordings projected next to each other, each place becomes a performance of that culture’s life, creating a poetic fusion of literature, music, performance and video art from each place.
Within my work I explore the use of Internet broadband technology as an
important tool for massive interaction. Engaging the participant with moving images and sound in real time, I created an opportunity to develop collaborative performances, bridging international communities through time
and space.
Charlie Todd, a comedian and founder of the New York group Improv Everywhere, which organizes flashmobs, says the point of the group’s ‘missions’
is to “get satisfaction from coming up with an awesome idea and making
it come to life. In the process we bring excitement to otherwise unexciting
locals and give strangers a story they can tell for the rest of their lives. It
can simply be about making someone laugh, smile, or stop to notice the
world around them.’” (2009, para.21).

25

4. The Process
Dios los hace y ellos
se juntan / God
makes them and
they join together

This section describes the process of the development of Inlak’esh Alaken.
During my research I found little information about process/methodology
regarding interactive environments in open spaces from a communication
designer’s perspective. I hope the process described below will inform and
bring new knowledge to new communication designers that are willing to
follow similar projects in the future.
Within the development of the project Inlak’esh Alaken, I became a producer of what I could call the closure of my previous experiments. I confronted
a series of challenges and limitations, as well as successful results and
a new body of knowledge. In the process of becoming a visual journalist,
I documented every challenge and success that came in the development
cycle of the project.
Within the process of developing this event, I linked different people and
ideas to develop a common goal, and focused more in the process rather
than in the outcome itself. Following, is a detailed description of the process to develop the project.

4.1. Research
Similar to the process of any designer, this process includes answering
questions we usually answer with a brief. In this case, the design brief was
for me to work with as a scaffold. I worked with the journalistic questions,
which looks the why of what, and to whom, when and where.
This is an example of a series of questions looking at the key question of what:
1.What is the objective of this project?
2.What motivated me to develop this project?
3.What should I develop to reach the desired objective?
4.What is the element of surprise that will change the observer’s quality
of the day?
5.What will help bridge the gap between communities that don’t share the
same language?
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The Process

These and more questions are answered and reflected throughout this essay. It is important to keep a journal or notebook for notes and ideas that
may come up, including sketches and quotes from books, journals or articles read through the process of research. A still camera is always a great
gadget for documentation.
Once I had most of my questions answered, I started researching precedents. Because Inlak’esh Alaken is not just one object, but a mix of various installations that form an event, I began researching the one topic that
I knew the least: live video broadcasting online. One of the challenges that
came up was that nowadays there is hardly a brand new idea that no one
else has already made or event thought before. Instead of trying to find
something new, I decided to join together with the people that had made
similar projects in the past, in order to push the boundaries of these projects to get more interesting results. This led me to meet the People.

4.2. People
Meeting new people that enriched my project was one of the most satisfactory results of this process. In the search for projects similar to mine,
I found very interesting results from artists around the World. E-mailing is
the best way to get your voice out there, and so I decided to overcome my
fear of speaking to strangers (if “speaking” is e-mailing, maybe “skypeing”?), and e-mailed everyone that I though might be interested in my project. The answers I got were amazing, and new networks of collaboration
were created.
I have previous experience working in teams at long-distance, and know
the basis of managing people in different cities. One of the main challenges of working with people online is clear communication. Despite the
difference of time zones, every member of the international team had to be
fully committed to a daily-based communication with others. New forms of
organization developed, like online calendars and due dates, and weekly
27

The Process

video conference meetings. Strict organization and honest communication
brought the team members together and facilitated a successful project
development.

4.3. Technology
The biggest challenge of all was the technology. Even though in our western
urban lives we rarely experience the absence of Internet, finding a place
with a strong connection was the biggest challenge. The Internet connection had to be 8Mbps/1024Kbps or stronger to decrease the possibility of
an interruption of the video or audio signal, and therefore overcome drastic
time delays. Once we solved this, we had to do some research on equipment rentals. In some cases, interested companies sponsor a free trial of
their equipment. It was very important to promote the project to everyone
we thought might be a sponsor. Though some said “not today”, some said
“yes, of course”.
I developed a requirements checklist of everything needed for the event in
the three cities. It was important to clarify every specification of the equipment, and annotate every cable, tape, light or chair that was necessary to
bring a comfortable and complete installation to the sites. This checklist
had to be translated in both Spanish and English, and including specifications for the length, weight or energy units for each place.

4.4. Place
In looking for a place to develop the project, a reliable Internet connection
was an important factor. I did some research on the topic and found out
that one of the strongest Internet connections can be found in schools and
Universities.
Fortunately, we found out that in Guadalajara, my undergrad University was
hosting a Culture Week during the same week we wanted the project to
happen. My team in Guadalajara presented the project to the Communications
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The Process

and Events Committee, and they loved the project, and supported us right
away. We found out that they were thinking of inviting a couple of graffiti
artists for one night of mural painting with the topic of social issues and
migration. The coincidence of topics and tools of collaboration were fascinating, and we mixed Inlak’esh Alaken with their own performances.
I found it convenient to invite Emily Carr University to participate in this
merge of possibilities, having found a commonality between Vancouver and
Guadalajara, namely art and design audience in an academic setting. I
submitted my project proposal for the Motion Capture Studio. Once I got
the green light, the rest was history.

29

5. First Impressions
Each site began the setup at different times. We always kept in touch by
Skype and by international radio (radio/telephone with unlimited international connection). From previous experiences, I know that technological
difficulties can considerably delay the beginning of an event, so I decided
to setup at 12:00pm. With close to six hours ahead and the help of a technician, I setup the three different projections. The Tangible Interaction staff
installed Graffiti Wall one hour late (an hour before the event had to start),
when the event started in Vancouver, the people in Guadalajara were not
ready to start yet, since the Graffiti Wall tests were delayed.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles had some difficulties trying to connect online and
start the video broadcast from their side. In Vancouver, the event officially
started. It was 18:00 hrs PST, the guests were arriving, Guadalajara had
no Graffiti Wall working and Los Angeles was not showing up on the online
broadcast.
It took us close to an hour and a half to get the three sites to work properly
at the same time. The video cameras for each site were mainly located facing a screen of interaction (Guadalajara and Vancouver with Graffiti Wall,
and Los Angeles with Laser Tag), and each screen acted as a white board,
where people started to communicate. Unfortunately, some guests had to
leave before the intended performance took place, but once everything was
fluently working, the results were amazing.
At the beginning, the participants in Vancouver and Los Angeles knew that
Guadalajara was having some technical difficulties setting up the Graffiti
Wall; they saw it on the video broadcast projection. This fact did not stop
them from interacting with the three cites; instead, they decided to write
messages on the Graffiti Wall and Laser Tag projections. They wrote messages like “Guadalajara, what’s going on?” and a fluent interaction began.
The participants in Los Angeles also wrote messages for Guadalajara and
Vancouver, and at some point they also interacted with their own body
movements.

30

First Impressions

Throughout the event, we experienced some saturation in the server for the video
broadcast, and each site had to reload their transmission every now and then.
While waiting for Guadalajara to properly setup their Graffiti Wall and start
the graffiti artists’ performance, the participants in Vancouver were mainly
exploring the Graffiti Wall tools. They performed a ritual, sharing the tools
of tagging and interacting with each other. And then, the unexpected happen. A drawing appeared out of nowhere on their canvas. The participants
backed up for a minute, trying to figure out what happened, and suddenly
they looked at the video transmission from Guadalajara, and to their surprise, they saw their own drawings showing up in the Graffiti Wall screen of
Guadalajara. They started yelling: “It’s working! It’s working!” and with that
same excitement, they kept interacting with the participants in Guadalajara.
This particular experience was the essence of my process, one of the most
exciting outcomes of the project. In my position of becoming a visual journalist, I brought this experience as an example of the dialogue I was looking for.
As a designer, I became an interceptor between communities and contributed to the development of non-verbal communication.
Jeremy Crowle was present during the entire event. There was one moment
when we had to ask the participants to let him begin his performance and
interact with El Peque, in Guadalajara. By the time this happened, Guadalajara had other technical difficulties, and the interaction between both
Graffiti Wall screens was interrupted. This didn’t stop Jeremy to expand
his skills with these tools, and he started drawing some amazing “murals”.
Within the participants, there was another professional graffiti artist who
saw what Jeremy was doing, and asked permission to collaborate with him,
and he did. They both started a dialogue, a communication that only street
artist know. They moved from side to side, working with colors, layers and
textures. The rest of the participants became spectators in this beautiful
and unpredictable performance.

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First Impressions

Unfortunately, as I mentioned earlier in this text, the graffiti artists from
Guadalajara and Vancouver did not have the chance to collaborate in the
same screen. Both artists are hoping to do this in a near future, and I hope
to contribute in the development of this desired collaboration.
There were many challenges to overcome during the event that did have
unsatisfactory results, but the process of developing this, for me, was a
success. Following the Collaborative Networks theory by Manzini (2006), I
was indeed capable of catalyzing interested people (in this case, the producers of each city and the external collaborators), and organizing them to
build a common vision, developing a complex project at a global scale (p.3).
This collaborators and producers were from Mexico, Germany, Uruguay, Argentina, Korea, the United States and Canada. The international collaboration was not only the collaboration of three cities working together, but of
different people with different nationalities and cultures working together.
With Inlak’esh Alaken, I have contributed to new knowledge of the discipline
of Interaction Design, being a small example of how we, as designers, can
converge and become a unique complex dynamic of social change (Manzini,
2006, p.3). With Inlak’esh Alaken I believe I answered my research questions by developing an interactive, public event that successfully promoted
local, social engagement. With the help of online video broadcasting, as a
designer, I became an interceptor between communities, (unfortunately not
cultures) and contributed to the development of communication when the
same language might not shared.

32

“Interactivity is different from the production value of ‘richness’. Typical
television programs and films can have incredibly rich stories, […] but offer almost no interaction except turning the channel or leaving the theater.
Compare this with the experience of improvisational comedy in which a
story is created as the audience watches, gets involved by offering suggestions, or even joins in the action” (Shedroff, 1994, p.10)

33

6. Conclusion
Tlalcticpac tochictin
ties / The Earth will
be as the humans
will be

Design is evolving in directions never thought in the past. There is no longer a defined line between this and other creative disciplines. Designers, I
have gleaned, are learning how to participate in the social process of networking. Within my work I am presenting the designer as a facilitator and
interlocutor between communities, as a multidisciplinary individual that
brings an importance to the dialogue between these communities with the
help of art, media and design.
With this body of knowledge, I hope to influence future (and current) designers in their search for a social change in the local and the global network. I
hope to encourage the art and design community to bring an interaction of
multicultural identities and develop an environment of conscious reflection,
a place that reinforces community life and provides social engagement and
human participation by perceiving the global into the local.
With the use of co-creative technologies, the designer can provide a sensorial and emotional experience to the participant, since “people are naturally
creative and are almost always more interested in experiences that allow
them to create instead of merely participate” (Shedroff, 1994, p.11). These
experiences are valuable tools to share knowledge, and can become key
factors to the development of shared ideas and possible solutions to global
and local social issues.
With Inlak’esh Alaken I have learned to establish a solid network of creative
people that share the same ideals, and the importance of this network in
future artistic developments. I have learned that technology is growing
beyond our expectations, and it can be used as a tool to ease conflicts or
limitations in both a global and a local context. However, one can never
truly rely on technology, and must research and apply different possibilities
as backup plans. I also learned that the possibilities of creation are endless, and so are the limitations and challenges to overcome.
My work involves a fair amount of uncertainty and therefore ambiguity.
Based on interactive design, I created an effect in people’s global and
34

Conclusion

local knowledge, and with the help of visual communication, bridged the
gap between communities that may not share the same language. It is
hard to anticipate the final effect desired, mostly due to the fact that the
participants had different cultural backgrounds, and the acts followed by
the information they were given were unpredicatble. I was left with the
activity of observation, a documentation of the experiment and “capturing
and condensing […] the mood, concerns, inspirations, aspirations, fads,
obsessions and stylistic tics” (Poynor, 2001, p.185) of the participants. I
gathered the results of these interactive experiences, analyzed the documentation, and used the resources of design (words and images) to communicate
my argument. This, for me, is what it means to become a visual journalist.
I see myself as a designer that can develop experiences. With Inlak’esh
Alaken, I developed an interactive, public event that successfully promoted
local, social engagement. With the help of online video broadcasting, I
became an interceptor between communities, and despite the unexpected
challenges that changed the desired outcome (of an intercultural understanding), I contributed to the development of communication with visual language.
If I were to change something from this project, I would have put more
emphasis in the music playing as background (ambient music), and use
the sound as a generator of emotions, affecting the final results of the
participants’ interaction. I would have made the projection screens bigger
and wider, where the participants could feel a human scale 1:1. I would
have tested the whole process of the instalation many times before, with
the three cities, which I am sure would have helped a lot in the development of the actual event.
Some areas of study included in this thesis, like intercultural communication and sound as generative, are still under research, which is why they
are not as developed in this essay as other areas of study. I aim to develop
a much deeper research in these areas to complete the present body of
knowledge, and guide it to different possibilities of work in the future.

35

Conclusion

This research helped me develop a methodology outside of traditional design practices. It involves the process of developing a body of knowledge that
contributes to the evolution and articulation of ideas. I recognize that this is an
ongoing research project, which may point to different possibilities in the future.
Inlak’esh Alaken was developed within a limited period of time, a limited
selection of space and a limited budget. However, the outcome of this experience can be taken further, pushing the limitations of technology, time
and space as a potential for social activism.
In the future, I aim to take the foundation of this project and bring it to
communities with similar social or political issues, or even confined due to
physical disabilities or political regulations. With the use of available technology and non-verbal language and with the help of Inlak’esh Alaken, my
objective is to become an agent for social change.

36

“Designers talk about creating a body of work, but they seldom talk about
acquiring a body of knowledge. They take pride in being makers, but seldom identify themselves as thinkers. They claim to be emissaries of communication — to give form to ideas. And while we would like to believe this
is true, it seems to us that all too often, we, as designers, are called upon
merely to make things look good — rather than contributing to the evolution and articulation of ideas themselves.” William Drenttel

37

Footnotes
El primero siempre
será el último / The
first one will always
be the last.

1. Designers that research taking in consideration the society’s needs, studying
the culture and creating a change with a conscious design.
2. According to Jorge Frascara (1997), designers have been defined as problem-solvers, which means taking action in response to a problem (Frascara,
1997, p.20).
3. Following Jorge Frascara’s (1997) theory of the designer acting as problemsolvers, he suggests the designer to (also) become a problem-identifier, identifying and defining areas where visual communication design can make a
significant difference in society (Frascara, 1997, p.20-21).
4. According to the online source Writing a Successful Design Brief (Anonymous,
n.d.), design brief is a written explanation - given to a designer - outlining the
aims, objectives and milestones of a design project.
5. A project founded in 2004 in Guadalajara, Mexico. It explores new media and
technology as a way to create art. For more information please visit http://
www.matikarevista.com
6. For the purpose of this essay, “intercultural” indicates the interaction of one
or more individuals that have different identity background, such as their
country of precedence or education.
7. Social network application to communicate with text, voice or video over the
Internet.
8.

The author lived in Jamaica at the age of 13, for a period of 8 months. She
related Bali with known places from her past.

9. “Developing”, in this paper, is a term used to identify a large percentage of
the society which poverty levels are increased.
10. Term used to identify cultures with European origin.

38

Footnotes

11. The practice of designing products, processes, services, events, and environments with a focus placed in the quality of the user experience and culturally
relevant solutions, with less emphasis placed on increasing and improving
functionality of the design.
12. Steven Heller, in the book Citizen Designer, suggests that design has inherent
properties that when applied in a responsible manner contributes to a wellbeing that enhances everyone’s life as a citizen. He describes that to be a
good citizen designer requires more than talent. The key is to ask questions,
for the answers will result in responsible decisions. (Heller & Vienne, 2003,
p.7 )
13. When the artist used (is using) the environment as a collaborator.
14. Making use of a large-scale outdoor waterscreen/mist projection system, the
mirage-like installation glowed with colours and ebullient patterns created in
response to the competing and collaborative voices, music and screams of
people nearby. The system’s modes changed every few minutes depending on
how active the crowd participation was (more quickly when there was more
noise).
15. A meaning of banal sameness in the developing of the cities.
16. Group or organization that controls the sale and traffic of drugs.
17. The language of motion refers to a stage where the image moves and it adds
a qualification to the character of human behavior. (Collier, 1986, p.140)
18. Someone that takes action into something.
19. “Telematics” is a term used to designate computer-mediated communications
networking involving telephone, cable, and satellite links between geographically dispersed individuals and institutions that are interfaced to data-processing systems.

39

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Más sabe el Diablo
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Diablo / The Devil
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