Local Report 2012 was the latest incarnation of a performance concept by Robert Whitman, which first transpired in 1972. In the original version, people all over New York City called in via pay phones to report what they were currently witnessing. This year, Stanford student programmer Jaron Moore wrote smartphone software to make the performance, in which reporters called in from around the globe to report their experiences in real time, possible. The Stanford Arts Institute interviewed Jaron to learn more about his experience of the project.

Q: How would you describe your background?

A: I’m a junior here at Stanford. Product Design Major CS Minor. Born in Maryland. Raised in North Carolina. Lover, not a Fighter.

Q: What was it like to apply your programming skills to an art project? Is that something you’ve done before?

A: I was quite excited to be applying programming to an art project. I think there are a lot of exciting applications for technology and engineering in the arts. If we think of sculptors as designers of non-functional objects, then, analogously, we’re starting to see a new brand of artists who are essentially engineers and scientists setting up impractical experiments.

I’d never done anything quite like this project in terms of scope. But, I’ve done a number of smaller projects full of sound and fury and signifying nothing.

Q: What was it like to experience the live event?

A: The live event was a fantastic experience. At that time, I had spent a fair amount of time on coding iPhone/Android apps, navigating the complex, bureaucratic structure of Stanford IT and Events people to get the d.school atrium set up, and telling people about the event, so it was pretty satisfying to see it all pay off with people enjoying the performance.

Q: What do you think modern technology brings to the art world, and vice versa?

A: Technology in general is all about options and opportunity. I think artists now have more ways and means to express themselves than ever before. I think it’s still important for artists to have a respect and understanding of traditional methods and practices. But you can imagine what Da Vinci would have done with a 3D printer.

I think art displays the non-utilitarian value of modern technology, as well as reminding us of the power of our technologies. There’s the quote about sufficiently advanced technologies being indistinguishable from magic. And we live in a world where you can conjure up all of the world’s information about a certain subject on a 4-inch device in line at Starbucks, but people become so incredibly quickly habituated to new technology that that’s status quo. Something like Whitman’s performance serves to remind us how incredible it is that we’re all so interconnected.

Q: Do you think you’ll be involved in projects that combine art and technology in the future? Any new ideas inspired by this experience?

A: I hope to continue working on things of this nature. I’ve had a few ideas for projects that would combine physical objects with the digital technologies a bit more, but I’ve yet to have the time to implement any of them.

Jaron Moore’s research internship was supported by the Drs. Ben and A. Jess Shenson Fund.