flockstep

Video projection onto the pedestrian plaza of Union Square, Somerville, MA

February 19 - March 31, 2007

Commissioned by the Somerville Arts Council as part of the 2007 Lightscape series.

flockstep is a looped video in which animated shadows are projected down onto a pedestrian plaza where they interact with the shadows of passersby.

The piece draws its imagery from the history of Union Square to explore how single bodies join with others in group movements. Represented are the present-day pigeons making their home in the square today, the dancers of the 1930's when Union Square was the hub of area social dance and the location of one of the world's longest running dance marathons, and the Union soldiers of the Civil War. Union Square is so named because of the Union recruiting stand that once stood in the square.