about
Proboscis is an independent, artist-led, non-profit creative studio. Creativity and openness are at the heart of what we do. We are pioneers of pie in the sky – striving to expand the perceptions of artistic practice and fostering new appreciations of creativity in everyday life.
Proboscis is directed by Giles Lane and Alice Angus.
A non profit distributing company limited by guarantee founded in 1994
Registered in England and Wales, Number 3274453
VAT Registration Number: 752 4674 18
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Proboscis likes to make mischief. Our projects often begin life as a question; over time they develop into symposia, residencies, collaborations and artworks that can take the form of films, books, installations, ephemera, architectural constructions, published texts and art objects. We develop creative tools, processes and methodologies that bring new perspectives to a vision and understanding of the world. Collaboration, evaluation and reflection are central to our ethos, enabling us to share our ideas and influence policy and practice in business, industry, the arts, education, government, civil society and academia.
Proboscis’ first venture was COIL, a five year journal focusing on experimental film, video and new media practices supported by Arts Council England. Inspired by influences such as Georges Bataille’s Documents and Deleuze’s The Fold, COIL gave us leverage to build a community of ideas where contributors were commissioned to intervene into the space of the printed book. This unique platform, allowing artists, writers, academics and others to challenge their own medium or practice, also established Proboscis’ philosophy of looking beyond the limits and boundaries of material forms.
Sticking our noses into strange places to find meaning and connection within the ambiguities of our social and cultural frameworks opens doorways of investigation for ourselves and others that develop and evolve over time. Since 2001 we have created a number of projects that explore the relationships between individuals, communities and the environments they inhabit. Our work has developed from an initial focus on the geographies of place to the social and cultural relationships that underpin them.
With play and scavenging as two essential ingredients in our work, we manoeuvre between making artworks and inventing communications tools to developing innovative software applications and building environmental sensors to crafting objects and costumes with found materials. Our tools, techniques and formats (such as the Snout sensor platform, Diffusion eBooks, StoryCubes, Diffusion Generator and Urban Tapestries) have enabled us to engage with local communities, government, industry and schools in investigating and documenting issues such as, “What is democratic behaviour?” and “What is polluting my environment?”
One of our key concepts – public authoring, the mapping and exchange of knowledge and experience – is rooted in our philosophy of collaboration and sharing, for which the act of listening is crucial. Where public authoring offers people a space to share their voice it also needs to encourage that voice to be heard and listened to. Projects like Social Tapestries, Snout and Diffusion Generator develop these practices of public authoring that in turn engender cultures of listening – creating spaces that allow us to pause and reflect on what we hear; to disentangle meaning from the babble of noise.
Our multi-faceted and international collaborations ground our work in the complex reality of the everyday lives we encounter and our vision is rooted in our ability to learn from our partners and adapt our own practices. We have found insight into, and experience of, a broad swathe of knowledges from our partnerships with teachers, children, students, scientists, architects, writers, filmmakers, technologists, programmers, ethnographers, librarians, archivists, community development workers, designers and other creative practitioners. Proboscis maintains an open and lively studio space where we also host people from different backgrounds and disciplines across the globe to come and experiment with our concepts and tools to expand their own vision and practice: a conspiracy of creative practitioners.
Since its foundation in 1994, Proboscis has explored how networks and modes of communication – virtual and physical – foster and build communities of people and interests. In taking our work forward into the future we are refining new concepts, practices and tools such as Anarchaeology and the Diffusion Shareables which bridge the limitless shareability of the digital with the human qualities of the handmade. Creativity and openness are at the heart of what we do. We are pioneers of pie in the sky – striving to expand the perceptions of artistic practice and fostering new appreciations of creativity in everyday life.
