====== German influence on the French Election ======

Taking a leaf out of Merkel's book, another German is trying to influence the French elections..

{{:blog:efc_fh.png?300  }}

Last week I received a phone call by my collaborating artist and previous supervisor [[wp>Maurice_Benayoun]] that there is interest to show a customized version of our project [[http://emotionforecast.com|Emotion-Forecast]] during the final stages of the presidential election campaign for [[wp>François_Hollande]].

My first reply was: "I'm not interested in political statements. Yet the project is free-software, everyone can use and customize it for their needs."

As citizen of the European-Internet, I am not allowed to vote in France - so here's my change to take some influence nonetheless. While I can't say that I'd vote for Mr. Hollande, I am certain that I don't want to continue living in a country ruled by Sarkozy. Decision-making by exclusion, fine. 

So I spent a few hours hacking - which is fun anyway - and a few hours carefully translating English into French.. et voila. La [[http://emotionforecast.com/fh|prévisualisation]] est disponible en ligne.

I'm still undecided what I'd actually vote on next Sunday. Pretty much both options seem like dead-ends to me. Still, I'm happy that people's emotional-concerns are included in an election campaign, which otherwise is pretty much focused on the economic situation: jobs, taxes, dept-crisis,.. sprinkled of immigration and security concerns. 

Even though this "emotional weather forecast" will likely be presented out of context of our initial intention, I very much welcome the opportunity that it may inspire some people at least.

Update: it is going to be presented on Sunday, May/6 at [[http://g.co/maps/azc5r|Place de la Bastille]].

Update: [[http://www.huffingtonpost.fr/alexia-guggemos/bastille-hollande-presidentielle-2012_b_1488997.html|article in huffingtonpost]] about the project[ion].

{{tag>news installation video}}