or Life at the Highway Exit Ramp

by Sven Pahlsson

"Sprawlville" examines what might be defined as the core of the American Society and Culture; namely the American Dream the way it is manifested in today's suburban space.

The suburban space consists mainly of 3 components;

the Suburban Home Developments, the Interstate Highway System and the Mega Shopping Malls.

Background for the "Sprawlville" art project

In 1956 President D Eisenhover signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act that started the 46000 mile interstate highway system (1) which connected every major city in the USA to each other and made car transportation between greater distances more effortless and easier. This also opened up for a new migration from the city center to the countryside which was transformed into the new suburbs. Thanks to the initially efficient highway system, people were able to work in the city, and still live outside in the lush and safe countryside.

Also issues as the increase in crime rates and decline in safety in the city center areas helped persuade people to move out of the cities. This is exemplified from among other things, the 1960's media coverage of the race riots in Newark, Detroit and Los Angeles.

The American Dream to own your own house with a lawn, a pool and a 3 car garage is fueling the growth of the suburban housing developments. These projects take over large amounts of productive farm land at an alarming rate. Aerial maps of the spreading communities have an uncanny resemblance to similar looking charts of viscous diseases spreading in the human body. A different solution if you want a home but can't afford a real house, is maybe to go for a mobile home. But mobile homes are spreading widely too, they are the second fastest growing category of housing over the last 2 decades.(2)

There are no traditional or common spaces in suburbia for people to meet and interact in. On the contrary, suburbia is made up of communities that appear to want to avoid any kind interaction with the outside world. You have the gated communities, the closed windows with the blinds shut and maybe a sign on your lawn saying keep off, protected by security systems. A functional community needs common spaces for meeting and interaction, such as the town square in the old cities. However there are no such common spaces in suburbia. The nearest definition of a common meeting space, would be the commercially mutated space as found in the shopping mall. How people can find a high quality of living in this repetitive and conform way of living in the housing developments is puzzling.

The highway system is another component that make the concept of suburbia work. (Different aspects of the automobile and highway culture were examined in the art project "Crash Course", such as our fear of the unpredictable and the unforeseen)

The tremendous increase in traffic volume in major cities such as Atlanta, Washington DC, Los Angeles and Miami makes these cities choke on their traffic. And because of the ever sprawling suburbs, the highways connecting them and the city, has become congested and dangerous. The issue of safety and protection is also reflected in the strange love affair Americans have with the SUV's, large sized off road terrain capable vehicles. These enormous, almost enamored vehicles appears like small tanks, and while they might protect the suburban family from the outside dangers, they pose a major threat to fellow drivers because of their sheer weight. And yet most are never driven on any other pavement then the highway or mall parking lot asphalt.

The shopping mall world is very synthetic and artificial. Everything is clean, ordered and controlled. Security personnel keep things in the preferred order and keeps any unpleasant problems out. Large chain stores make up most of the shops in the malls, repeating themselves in malls everywhere.(3)

Working with computer models, I see many resemblance's between the mall world and the computer generated virtual reality world.

It turns out there are many similar aspects and cross references between these two types of worlds. For example the expression "big box retailer" as an expression for the simple or nonexistent architecture of these structures, resembles the most basic 3D building shapes such as box, cylinder and ball. Also the lack of dust, dirt or anything organic is typical of both types of worlds.

So it seems that the optimistic visions from the 1950's of suburban life has metamorphosed into a large, ever-

growing dysfunctional suburban society, plagued with things like pollution, traffic jams and anxiety.

Why is suburbia spreading with such intensity? Maybe the suburban development is tolerable because it has become so familiar?

But the current strangeness, frustrations and state of anxiety in suburbia makes it an interesting and relevant subject to examine. And to deal with the complexity of the subject matter, the visual medium of 3D animation is perfectly suited.

The visual characteristics of "Sprawlville"

To follow up on the subject matter, the images of "Sprawlville" has on one level a bleak, colourless and lifeless appearance, making the visual almost anemic and soft.

However the images are not dull or boring. They might appear weird or strange, thus actually adding tension to the imagery. But they are not lifeless or weak, as opposed to the subject matter. And because they are produced with such an extremely high resolution, it gives the appearance of an extreme dimensional reality in itself. This results in images that reveals more information the closer you get, creating more images within the images. Further on, the unique light painting possibilities of 3D animation has been applied, where as many as 50 different coloured lights has been positioned in the 3D model, resulting in very rich and intense subtle colour variations on the textures of the models.

The images are also referring to many different types of visual techniques through their appearance. For example the colours and texture from pen drawing or the gradations of aquarell technique or the photographic wide angle lens distortions. But at the same time it can be either of these because of the unique 3D light painting and the sharpness of the high resolution lines and the preciseness of the output.

The point of view from above also reveals the intricate network that underlies these suburban mall structures, from the grid of the streets and parking lots to the network of pipes in the enormous ventilation and air-condition systems that are constructed onto the roofs of buildings.

Another important aspect of "Sprawlville" is the reference to computer games and specifically 3D simulation games. One of the most popular games right now are "The Sims", a suburban simulation game, where you can play out different suburban lifestyles (!). The action takes place from a 3 dimensional overview, a visual mix between the O J Simpson carchase visual and the security camera imagery.

"Sprawlville" is in many way a daring art project in the choice of this subject matter. It seems that because of the status quo that suburbia is in, the familiarity of the situation makes it transparent in today's society. And most people both in and outside of suburbia seems either unaware, or have already resigned to the situation. But it is exactly for these reasons, that "Sprawlville" is such an important and exciting art project.

It is also daring in that it goes against the still very few traditions of computer graphics, in the way it explores a different kind of imagery. With the use of a more low key output, it creates an even higher excitement and nerve in the images.

To me the experience of the suburban world is almost unreal, and the diminishing difference between the virtual world as constructed in the computer and the actual spreading suburbia is both uncanny and frightening. This is an actual virtual reality model world that we can experience and live in, and it is spreading throughout the western world. Further on, today's society is moving rapidly into the electronic network and information age, thereby replacing more and more of our actual physical experiences with virtual electronic experiences. Therefore it is becoming even more important that our remaining physical experiences are meaningful and of high quality, or we will turn into a dysfunctional society full of tension and frustration. The suburban space as experienced today is not a well functioning society.

Results of the art project "Sprawlville"

With such an extensive array of subject matter and such an exciting new visual tool as 3D computer animation for producing imagery, there are many exciting results from this project.

• There will be an animation exploring the suburban space. It will be a 3D animated exploration of this burb world. For the soundtrack and music, I will be working with renowned composer Erik Wollo. The complete animation will be 10 minutes long.