He printed up hundreds of Bic pens with the phrase "Please let me go" on them and handed them out to people as well as putting them in strategic locations to be found. Each one had a five digit tracking number on them. The pen also has some text about the website, namely that it's part of a project and a web address. They're asked to go to it and type in their unique number along with their location. This allows Costa to see how far his pen has travelled and track the use of it. The tracking device on it allows them to path out exactly where it has been and the artist could communicate with the participant.
It's a simple idea but very effective and also a great project that looks at participation and involves the social networking aspect of communication through the computer and without having met the other person on the other end. He had similar problems with participation. In the early version he sent out 200 pens and 25% were registered back to the website by participants. The others, it's unclear what happened to them and this is perhaps part of what I like. The mystery.
Below is the promo video for it while the project is being re-done.
Walking Pen Project from Marcelo Costa on Vimeo.
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