Birds of a feather 'flock' to Web site

Local birds are being infected with a virus that swiftly moves across the continent—and it is mutating to infect humans. Government agencies are created to stop its spread. It's all fiction. Or is it?

"The Flocking Party," is a multi-linear fictional story on the Web with blogs, maps, diagrams, videos, sound and a plot that doesn't seem all that far in the future.

A page from School of Art & Design graduate student Chris Landau's "The Flocking Party" Web story (Screen Capture From www.theflockingparty.com)

The multimedia presentation is the creation of Chris Landau, a master of fine arts candidate in the School of Art & Design. Forty pages are detailed with pseudo-scientific jargon, factual tidbits, references to government entities and practices, and scenarios that mirror recent newspaper headlines.

Landau chose to focus on starlings and sparrows because they are invasive species, yet something people see every day. And Landau looked at these species from many angles as he rode his bike through Ann Arbor's suburbs watching flocks of starlings on green, pristine lawns.

"Starlings are very suspicious of people and don't like to be watched," Landau says. But the artist persisted in his observations, studying and imagining.

Landau's fiction is a venture into the behavior of networks and the way ideas spread—just as viruses spread with both negative and positive consequences. And for some of the readers, "flocking parties" have become popular, he says. People sit on the floor in a V-formation around an LCD projector navigating the Web site. The group shares information as it surfs through the story by creating shadows and pointing with lasers at the screen.

"The Flocking Party" is available at www.theflockingparty.com/home.html. Ignore the treacherous warnings; it's all part of the show.