Community Clouds are benches that emit Wi-Fi to access a geo-locked virtual platform for a local community to share music, poetry, art and other forms of self-expression. In collaboration with four Chicago designers, engineers, and artists, and funded through the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Idea Generation Grant, Community Clouds facilitates virtual and in person community building in hopes to harmonize the two for upcoming generations of creatives.
Community Clouds benches were installed at community hubs around Chicago and Evanston. The Community Clouds app allowed people sitting in on the bench to upload photos, text, and music Community Clouds feed, while people anywhere in the world could interact with the content they would not be able to post.
Locations for Community Cloud bench installations.
Layout of hardware inside benches.