RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is a means of tagging items so their movements in physical space can be tracked and the data produced used digitally. Currently their seems to be a lot of excitement about the use of RFID in new media art so much so that Mediamatic organised a series of workshops, events and online resources last year explaining their uses and implications to artists (information from wemakemoneynotart and Bryan Chung’s weblog.).

RFID certainly seems like a useful technology and hopefully has the potential to inspire artists to produce creative works that go beyond the simple and largely only visual uses (symbolising identification) of barcodes. Currently I don’t see this potential realised anywhere yet and it seems to me that much of the fuss about RFID will dwindle as did the excitment about GPS from 3/4 years ago. While GPS was immediately picked up by groups of artists who were involved in mapping (largely online spaces until then such as documented at Cybergeography) and also psychogeography to an extent which has allowed it to endure longer as a usefull tool, where is the immediate community of artists who can use RFID beyond that initial fascination of a new technology?

Some other resources concerning the use of RFID in new media art:

Wired article on artists employing RFID.
Marcus Kirsch’s project Urban Eyes tagging pigeons in Rotterdam.
I Can Read You, posters employing RFID patterns.
Meghan Trainor who has created various RFID works.
Moo-Pong, bizare, gimmicky or fun project employing video and RFID.
Bruce Sterling influence on the potential of RFID which is emphasised in his publication from last year Shaping things.