Bat Billboard
Chris Woebken (German, born 1980)
and Natalie Jeremijenko (Australian,
born 1966)
of Environmental Health Clinic (est. 2007)
Steinhardt School of Culture, Education,
and Human Development (est. 1890)
New York University (USA, est. 1831)
2008
Bats play a key role in many ecosystems,
pollinating plants and providing insect
control, but in urban habitats they are
often misunderstood, thought to be
threats or pests. The Bat Billboard, an
interactive billboard that doubles as
housing for bats, is a way to dispel this
misinformation as well as creating a
bridge between bats and humans. Inside
a standard billboard structure, urban bats
find a safe space to live and hibernate,
helping to counteract the effects of
white-nose syndrome (a mysterious
disease that has killed more than a million
bats since 2007) and other threats to
their populations. Monitoring equipment
inside the billboard uses voice-recognition
software to map and translate the
calls of resident bats, matches them
to archives of various call patterns and
meanings, currently being compiled by
biologists, and displays the resulting
messages on a screen. The billboard
inventively reclaims urban infrastructure
for animal habitat and also functions as
a public face for the bats, translating
their habits and activities in a way that
humans can understand.
Category: Double Entendre
Tags: Communications / Visualizations / Networks / Pets
