Culture and food part 2

My idea has evolved a bit.

First image shows all European dining in Auckland area, listed geographically

I'm now planning to separate the different ethnic foods into a transparent layer. Each layer (about A1 size) will be hung and is moveable in the sense that the layers can be compressed or separated so that a person can walk between them. That way the ethnic foods can be compared as the viewer likes.




Second image shows the suburbs of Auckland, geographically.

Please comment

My installation:
Different coloured perspex, business card sized, hung on one wall of the gallery. For each perspex rectangle is the name of a restaurant and it's phone number. The colour of perspex relates to the ethnicity of the food served. The placement of the perspex on the wall is in relation to the location in Auckland Central District.

From a distance, the colours show the intensity and variety of culture in Auckland, on close inspection, the individuality of the names further differentiates each food outlet, yet it is all in English - the unifying factor.

What do you think?

Numbers and more numbers

It's been awhile since I've blogged so I thought I would just give an update of what I'm currently doing.

Step one: It is the mid-semester break and I'm getting started on data gathering. I have gathered data on Auckland's ethnic groups in each suburb (thanks Statistics NZ). Am now in the process of gathering in excel all the restaurants. I am compiling a list of restaurants and cafes by ethnicity and location and a name to identify so that I don't double count.

Next step: to group the restaurants and graphically locate on an Auckland map along with the Statistics NZ data.

MVRDV's project on Metacity Datatown is a great resource. I like the idea of creating a landscape from the data for maximum impact. This is what I want to do for the exhibit, create a data landscape...so projections will be needed. I'm not sure graphically how it is going to turn out but that is my intention. To graphically show as a landscape how culturally mixed, (or not) is Auckland through food retail.

Food Culture

Collecting food data will show how many restaurants exit for each distinctive culture. Perhaps this can be compared in a ratio to the population of Auckland. Is there a consistency ie. 20% Malaysian = 20% Malaysian population in Auckland.....most likley this correlation is not 1:1.

Auckland from google maps

Auckland at a glance from googlemaps. Places of activity are shown but the experience is not. Is there a way to go beyond just pinpointing a location?

Food map research

Mapping the hidden.

Taco Truck Lover Maps His Favorite Eateries Online
by Cyrus Farivar

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89990576

"steers people toward smaller, harder-to-find eateries" current trend of maps.

Fast food in Kansas city. On the left chockfull of outlets, on the right nothing!
Starbucks locations in US as of June 2008

Images sourced from http://www.caffeinemaps.com/ and http://www.fastfoodmaps.com/