Turbulence Commission: Bronx Rhymes by Claudia Bernett and Maria Ioveva: Bronx Rhymes illuminates the history and significance of Hip Hop in the Bronx by tagging important locations for Hip Hop (1520 Sedgwick, for example) with posters. Each poster describes the historical significance of that location in the form of a rhyme, and invites people walking by to join in a rhyming battle by txt-ing their own rhyme from their mobile phone. The website displays the artists and locations along with all the submitted rhymes elevating the most recent submission. Eventually, visitors to the website will be able to rate existing rhymes, and add their own.

Bronx Rhymes is a 2008 commission of New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc., (aka Ether-Ore) for its Turbulence web site. It was made possible with funding from the Jerome Foundation.

BIOGRAPHIES

Claudia Bernett is an artist and designer living and working in New York City. Since receiving her MFA from Parsons School of Design in 2000, she has been creating work that operates at the intersection of the digital and physical realms, and explores cognitive responses to human-computer interaction. She also works as an interaction designer in the Mobile and Emerging Platforms group at R/GA where she leads the user interface development on a wide variety of digital tools, toys, and experiences.

Maria Ioveva is an interaction designer and motion graphics artist. Her interest in urban narratives has led her to the creation of “after-images” of the city – animated dreamscapes in which past, present and fantasy intertwine. In her projects she has reimagined classic New York silhouettes such as the Brooklyn water-towers and the abandoned High Line rail line. She received an MFA degree from Parsons School of Design in 2005, and currently works as an Interaction Designer at R/GA for the Nike+ account.