Moving forward from midterm, I began identifying eight specific sites in the six battleground states that will have the most impact on the 2008 election. Two sites were explored further, specifically the purplest county - Franklin - in the purplest state - Ohio - located in the Columbus metroplex area. The Easton Town Center in Ohio displays a number of contradictions, home to the largest university in the country, but also numerous military contracting connections, including North American Aviation which manufactured components for the B-1 bomber in addition to missiles and guidance systems.

Each site was chosen not only for its status as a battleground state, but also as the 21st century incarnation of what constitutes public and civic space in America today, the outdoor shopping, dining, living spaces that are labeled as the new urban Town Centers, evolutions of the 1970s covered mall. If the goal is to affect and inform the greatest number of voters/shoppers, this is where the project would have to go, a placeless place lacking any form of civic engagement.

The project becomes a version of American Flag 2.0, something that doesn’t only wave from above in the wind, but rather demands work, a back and forth engagement between voter and candidate. The goal is that these can be sold to these town centers and through their sheer ubiquity and the rise of spectacle as a means of increasing shopping revenue, these proposals become the new American generic space.

The Town Center of Easton, OH:

Diagram of candidate circulation vector loop around central void.

SITE_01:

The Town Center of Easton Ohio

North American Aviation would provide security for the site during election season. The cupola above the Pottery Barn would open up, revealing a surface-to-air missile pod.

SITE_02:

The District Shoppes of Florida

Large scale screen/billboard facing highway:

View from parking lot (below), begins to open up and break down the scale.