3 days in Pallion
May 19, 2012 by Giles Lane · Leave a Comment
This week just passed Alice, Haz and myself have been running some co-design workshops with local community members in Pallion, a neighbourhood in the city of Sunderland, and with Lizzie Coles-Kemp and Elahe Kani-Zabihi of Royal Holloway’s Information Security Group, hosted at Pallion Action Group. The workshops, our second round following some others in early April, were focused around visualising the shape, needs and resources available to local people in building their own sustainable knowledge and support network – the Pallion Ideas Exchange. We also worked on testing the various tools and aids which we’ve designed in response to what we’ve learned of the issues and concerns facing individuals and the community in general.
The first day was spent making a visualisation of the hopes and aspirations for what PIE could achieve, the various kinds of activities it would do, and all the things they would need to make this happen. Based on previous discussions and workshops we’d drawn up a list of the kinds of activities PIE might do and the kinds of things they’d need and Mandy had done a great job over the past couple of weeks creating lots of simple sketches to help build up the visual map, to which were added lots of other issues, activity ideas, resources and hoped for outcomes.
Visualising PIE this way allowed for wide-ranging discussions about what people want to achieve and what it would need to happen – from building confidence in young people and the community more generally, to being resilient in the face of intimidation by local neer-do-wells. Over the course of the first afternoon the shape changed dramatically as the relationships between outcomes, activities, needs, people and resources began to emerge and the discussion revealed different understandings and interpretations of what people wanted.
On the second day we focused on the tools and aids we’ve been designing – a series of flow diagrams breaking down into simple steps some methods for problem solving, recording and sharing solutions and tips online, how to promote and share opportunities to people they would benefit and things to consider about safety and privacy before posting information online. We’ve also designed some simple notebooks with prompts to help do things like take notes during meetings and at events, a notebook for breaking problems down into small chunks that can be addressed more easily alongside place to note what, who and where help from PIE is available, and a notebook for organising and managing information and experiences of PIE members about sharing solutions to common problems that can be safer shared online. As the props for a co-design workshop these were all up for re-design or being left to one side if not relevant or useful. An important factor that emerged during the discussion was that people might feel uncomfortable with notes being written in a notebook during a social event – the solution arrived at was to design a series of ‘worksheet posters’ which could be put up on the walls and which everyone could see and add notes, ideas or comments to. The issue of respecting anonymity about problems people have also led to the suggestion of a suggestions box where people could post problems anonymously, and an ‘Ideas Wall’ where the problems could be highlighted and possible solutions proposed. We came away with a list of new things to design and some small tweaks to the notebooks to make them more useful – it was also really helpful to see a few examples of how local people had started using the tools we’ve designed to get a feel for them:
On the afternoon of the second day we also spent a long time discussing the technologies for sharing the community’s knowledge and solutions that would be most appropriate and accessible. We looked at a whole range of possibilities, from the most obvious and generic social media platforms and publishing platforms to more targeted tools (such as SMS Gateways for broadcasting to mobiles). As we are working with a highly intergenerational group who are forming the core of PIE (ages range from 16 – 62) there were all kinds of fluencies with different technologies. This project is also part of the wider Vome project addressing issues of privacy awareness so we spent much of the time considering the specific issues of using social media to share knowledge and experiences in a local community where information leakage can have very serious consequences. Ultimately we are aiming towards developing an awareness for sharing that we are calling Informed Disclosure. Only a few days before I had heard about cases of loan sharks now mining Facebook information to identify potential vulnerable targets in local communities, and using the information they can glean from unwitting sharing of personal information to befriend and inveigle themselves into people’s trust. The recent grooming cases have also highlighted the issues for vulnerable teenagers in revealing personal information on public networks. Our workshop participants also shared some of their own experiences of private information being accidentally or unknowing leaked out into public networks. At the end of the day we had devised a basic outline for the tools and technologies that PIE could begin to use to get going.
Our final day at Pallion was spent helping the core PIE group set up various online tools : email, a website/blog, a web-based collaboration platform for the core group to organise and manage the network, and a twitter stream to make announcements about upcoming events. Over the summer, as more people in Pallion get involved we’re anticipating seeing other tools, such as video sharing, audio sharing and possibly SMS broadcast services being adopted and integrated into this suite of (mainly) free and open tools.
The workshops were great fun, hugely productive but also involved a steep learning curve for all of us. We’d like to thank Pat, Andrea, Ashleigh and Demi (who have taken on the roles of ‘community champions’ to get PIE up and running) for all their commitment and patience in working with us over the three days, as well as Karen & Doreen at PAG who have facilitated the process and made everything possible. And also to our partners, RHUL’s Lizzie and Elahe who have placed great faith and trust in our ability to devise and deliver a co-design process with the community that reflects on the issues at the heart of Vome.
View from our hotel in Roker
Visualising with Philips R&D
May 11, 2012 by Giles Lane · 1 Comment
Back in February Proboscis was commissioned by Andy Robinson of Futurecity, with the assistance of Dipak Mistry of Arts & Business Cambridge, to undertake an Art+Tech collaboration with a local industry partner in Cambridge as part of Anglia Ruskin University’s Visualise programme. This strand seeks to engage “leading Cambridge technology companies to collaborate with contemporary artists on the creative use of technology in public life.”
Over the past few months Stefan and I have been meeting with David Walker and Steffen Reymann of Philips R&D (based in the Cambridge Science Park) to establish a creative dialogue. The initial topics for our creative exploration were suggested by Philips based on research subjects being explored in their lab – Near Field Communications and health monitoring technologies. Our discussions quickly began to revolve around personal motivations for monitoring health and lifestyle –
- Why do people routinely lose abandon using health monitoring technologies?
- What might inspire new habits that actively involve monitoring?
- How could we create delightful ways for people to make connections between personal data and Quality of Life?
- How could we rethink the nature of data collection away from the purely rational towards the realm of the numinous and speculative?
Our initial thinking suggested that perhaps the problem with data collection is that it is often too crude and reductive – trying to make impossibly simple connections between phenomena in a complex system. Data visualisations are often barely more than pretty graphs – but our lives, our environments and the ways we live are so much more than that. How might we make tangible souvenirs from the data generated by our bodies and habits that could help us discern the longer term, harder to perceive patterns?
As our discussions have continued we have begun to explore how we might generate talismanic objects – lifecharms – from personal monitoring data using 3D fabbing. Things which could act as everyday reminders about patterns the data suggests, which are at once both formed of the data and yet do not offer literal readings of the data. Objects which are allusive, interpretative and perceptible, but still mysterious. What would it feel like to have an object in one’s pocket that was generated from data gleaned from one’s own body and behaviours? How might this help us maintain a peripheral awareness of the things we eat, how much we exercise, our general state of happiness and perceive the subtle changes and shifts over time?
Stefan is writing elsewhere how we have been inspired by shells – excretions produced by creatures that tell (in a non-literal way) the story of the creature’s life – what minerals it ingested, what environmental factors affected it. For the lifecharms we’re experimenting with using personal data to drive 3D morphogenetic algorithms that can generate unique shell-like forms which we’ll then render into tangible souvenirs.
As a more macro counterpoint to the micro of the personal lifecharms we have also been considering how local public health data could be translated into forms which could be experienced as a group in a public setting – we’re investigating making a ‘fly eye’ geodesic dome with a light source to throw light upon the patterns in the data.
We’ll be continuing our discussions with Philips for another 3 months or so, gathering some test data (from ourselves) then making some prototypes and maquettes of our ideas for an event in Cambridge in the Autumn where we’ll present our work.
Reflecting on our years as an RFO
March 30, 2012 by Giles Lane · Leave a Comment
Today was the last working day of our 2011-12 financial year and, as such, Proboscis’ last day as an Arts Council England Regularly Funded Organisation. What has this meant to us and what will our future trajectory be? As we near Proboscis’ 18th anniversary in June (with a by no means certain path ahead) I feel I should mark this moment of transition in some way – pausing to reflect back on what being an RFO meant to us and how we mean to forge ahead.
Becoming an RFO in 2004 was a key transformation point for Proboscis, allowing us to concentrate on developing our programme in a way we hadn’t had the resources to do before. Specifically it allowed us to engage in longer term developments, such as working in research and social engagement as well as enabling us to cashflow projects where the funding was paid in arrears (such as Technology Strategy Board funds etc). Our attitude to being an RFO was that it provided us with leverage to explore areas and partnerships where artistic practice were not mainstream, where we could slowly build relationships and nurture opportunities to work in other fields than traditional art contexts. To this end, we were able to become recognised by the UK Research Councils as an Independent Research Organisation (the only artist-led organisation to do so), to win funding from diverse sources such as the Ministry of Justice, the Technology Strategy Board and Horizon Digital Economy Research Institute and to create international partnerships that took us to work in Australia, Japan, Brazil and Canada. We were able to support seven young people into creative careers (two of whom are still with us) through our participation in the Future Jobs Fund programme. It also enabled us to develop a specific kind of collaborative practice with partners (such as universities) who were unused to collaboration (being more used to commissioning or consulting) – enabling us to be treated as a peer, not a sub-contractor.
Regular funding provided us with the resources to invest time and energy into smaller projects that were less likely to win funding on their own, but were crucial to developing our presence in critical and creative spheres – such as our 10 year programme of commissions for various series of Diffusion eBooks and the early experiments with the Diffusion Generator, a precursor to our self-publishing platform, bookleteer. The recent experiments with digital fabric printing have also benefitted from being able to take a longer view over what was originally a solution for a single project.
Times change and perhaps we are measured by our ability to respond to them. Over the past year we have been attempting to give Proboscis a new sense of direction – welcoming Gary Stewart and Stefan Kueppers into the fold as key creative associates. We’ve mapped out a new core conceptual theme, Public Goods, and several strands of practice and research that we’re currently exploring through projects and experiments. New partnerships have also begun to emerge with, for instance, Headway East London, Royal Holloway’s Information Security Group and Philips R&D (our collaborator in the Art + Tech Commission for ARU’s Visualise programme) as well as older ones being re-affirmed.
What does it mean for us to no longer receive regular funding? For sure it means a drop in immediate and reliable income and less short term flexibility to ‘follow our noses’ as to where interesting creative opportunities may lie in less familiar contexts without seeking funding first. It means we are having to work even harder and look wider than before to locate the kinds of funded and resourced opportunities that will cover the costs of running a studio and paying our team of creative practitioners. We are by no means sure that in the current economic climate we will be able to achieve the level of new investment that Proboscis needs to grow through this change, or how long it might take us. No doubt we will have to adopt a more elastic approach to our own infrastructure and working practices.
But what all this is making clear is that the reason Proboscis will endure, persevere and find new pastures is that it is not driven purely by business goals, by financial ambition or a career path, but by artistic vision, passion, compassion and the desire to learn from others by working with them, sharing what we have discovered along the way. I cannot divine the shape that Proboscis will take on in a year or two or more’s time, but the threads of imagination, exploration and experimentation that we are weaving will certainly continue to be woven howsoever we can.
Mapping Perception Redux
March 20, 2012 by Giles Lane · Leave a Comment
Ten years ago, in 2002, we completed a major 5 year collaboration between myself, filmmaker and artist Andrew Kötting and the neurologist Dr Mark Lythgoe. The project, Mapping Perception, had been an extraordinary journey for us exploring the membrane between our perceptions of ability and disability, through the prism of impaired brain function. Andrew’s daughter, Eden, who was born with a congenital syndrome called Joubert’s (which causes the cerebellum to remain underdeveloped) was both the inspiration for this project and its heart. For the project we produced a major site-specific installation, a 35mm 37 minute film and a publication and CD-Rom.
On Monday 19th March the BFI is to release a new DVD (which includes the Mapping Perception film as a special feature) of Andrew’s latest film, This Our Still Life – a portrait of Eden now grown into a young woman. We’re really excited that MP is present on the DVD as it will mean a whole new audience for the work and are teaming up with the BFI to provide 50 free copies of the Mapping Perception Book & CD-Rom for people ordering the DVD (more details / link to come).
City As Material 2 with Professor Starling of DodoLab
February 28, 2012 by Giles Lane · 3 Comments
Once again we have been collaborating with our esteemed colleagues Andrew Hunter and Lisa Hirmer at DodoLab on a discursive exploration of place and knowledge as part of our ongoing investigations and collaborative publishing project, City As Material. This time we have been undertaking a research expedition with Professor William Starling into the decline of the European Starling in Britain, seeking stories and evidence to explain their rapid disappearance in three towns : Thetford (in Norfolk), London and Oxford. Alongside Proboscis and DodoLab, we were accompanied by expedition members Dr Josie Mills, Curator of the Art Gallery at the University of Lethbridge, Canada and artist Leila Armstrong.
Haz has posted reports for each of the journeys and visitations which we undertook in Thetford, London and Oxford over on our bookleteer blog and we are now collaborating to produce a series of eBooks charting the expedition’s activities and findings – blending together questions, observations, musings, photos, drawings, rubbings and other things collected. As before, we’ll print up a limited edition of the books as well as placing downloadable PDFs in the online Diffusion Library for handmade versions and enabling bookreader versions for reading online.
COIL journal – last few sets special offer
February 8, 2012 by Giles Lane · Leave a Comment
Over the past few weeks we’ve been re-arranging the studio to create new work spaces (such as the fabbing corner for the Public Goods Lab) and have been sifting through our archive to make space. We’ve been culling the number of archive copies we keep of various publications, especially of our older works which means we can release them for sale. As such, we are now making the last 15 complete sets of COIL journal of the moving image available for sale at the super low price of £25 plus shipping.
COIL journal was a 10 issue part-work commissioning new writing, critique as well as artists projects about experimental film, video and the emerging electronic/digital art field between 1995 and 2000. Over 130 filmmakers, artists, writers, critics and others were commissioned for the series – each one invited to make their own intervention in the journal about moving image culture (rather than respond to editorial themes). The journal deliberately eschewed featuring the then-current ‘YBA’ group of artists, focusing on a mix of younger emerging talent with older mid-career artists – many of whom we’re less visible at the time. COIL is thus a snapshot of a fecund period during which the shift from analogue to digital technologies gathered pace and the changes in creative practices associated with these became more pronounced.
A few months in..
February 7, 2012 by stefankueppers · Leave a Comment
Wow, how time flies:
Starting my Proboscis experience began only in October and already it seems like a distant past as so many things are happening at the same time here:
The Proboscis team, Giles, Alice, Hazem and Mandy have been really warmly welcoming me into their fold and I have been getting to know all the many friends and collaborators in the various projects we are working on. It is a great experience getting into a totally different scale (much smaller!) and horizontal way of working; a big change from my previous Higher Education job! I have come needing to juggle wearing many hats: design, research, technology development, etc. and I am really relishing it. It is really great when you can mix up the strategic and the practical and a few things in-between.
All this took some time getting used to but what is great is that a lot of excitement in this involvement is already showing: There is the new thinking about the technology stack that we are evolving for our Public Goods Lab work, the authoring and (successfully!) bidding for new commissioned work (e.g. Exlab) with other exciting work in the pipeline. Then we have been rearranging our studio space to accommodate more fabrication space for our various projects. Now there is a corner for electronics prototyping with a kit bench that is slowly expanding for our circuit design and production.
We are slowly growing more capacity not just to fabricate electronics but in fact a wider range of components in house. At the moment we are adding ideas around 3d printing (rapid fabrication) and textiles to embedded electronics. We are also exploring motion capture technologies and the production of data landscapes using sound environments! This is very exciting also as we are re-interpreting ideas and processes previous Proboscis work to expand our exploration and play with notions around physical knowledge artefacts. We are looking to experiment in our various projects where we can take the ideas around them and what they could spark for different uses..
All the above is tied in with ongoing conversations with friends and colleagues I had made in my various previous places of work in an HE context (UCL & The Bartlett Faculty of the Environment & Central Saint Martins, The University of The Arts) where I was for example involved in projects around
- Co-Presence & collaboration technologies with digital artefacts in virtual environment visualisations
- Mapping, understanding factors and strategies producing higher quality urban/city spaces
- Digital archives for architecture student works & new means of portfolio building, sharing and learning
- Collaborative research knowledge spaces and archives
- 3D printing in architecture design
- Parametric modelling and Arduino / Embedded electronics driven installations
- Platforming of shared work spaces and collaboration environments
Being here as part of Proboscis is an exciting way for me to bring a lot of this experience of setting up and operating Learning & Knowledge Spaces in the public realm. Watch out for our new works!
Material Conditions 1
November 29, 2011 by Giles Lane · 2 Comments
On December 15th 2011 we will be launching a new series of Diffusion commissions called Material Conditions. This series asks professional creative practitioners to reflect on what the material conditions for their own practice are, especially now in relation to the climate of change and uncertainty brought about by the recession and public sector cuts.
The contributors are : Active Ingredient (Rachel Jacobs et al); Karla Brunet; Sarah Butler, Desperate Optimists (Jo Lawlor & Christine Molloy); London Fieldworks (Bruce Gilchrist & Jo Joelson); Ruth Maclennan; Jules Rochielle & Janet Owen Driggs; and Jane Prophet.
The first set of 8 contributions will be published as Diffusion eBooks (made with bookleteer) and available as downloadable PDFs for handmade books, online via bookreader versions and in a limited edition (50) of professionally printed and bound copies which will be available for sale (at £16 per set plus P&P).
Material Conditions is part of Proboscis’ Public Goods programme – seeking to create a library of responses to these urgent questions that can inspire others in the process of developing their own everyday practices of creativity; that can guide those seeking meaning for their choices; that can set out positions for action around which people can rally.
Agencies of Engagement
November 17, 2011 by Giles Lane · 1 Comment
Agencies of Engagement is a new 4 volume publication created by Proboscis as part of a research collaboration with the Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technology and the Crucible Network at the University of Cambridge. The project explored the nature of groups and group behaviours within the context of the university’s communities and the design of software platforms for collaboration.
The books are designed to act as a creative thinking and doing tool – documenting and sharing the processes, tools, methods, insights, observations and recommendations from the project. They are offered as a ‘public good’ for others to learn from, adopt and adapt.
Download, print out and make up the set for yourself on Diffusion or read the online versions.
Xmas 2011 Special Offers
November 7, 2011 by Giles Lane · Leave a Comment
This year we have 3 special offers for the festive season :
- Special Offer 1 – only £10 + shipping for a batch of our past publications : Social Tapestries Case of Perpectives + Endless Landscape Magnet Set + COIL 9/10 + Mapping Perception + Pavel Buchler’s Ghost Stories. Offer ends 14th December.
- Special Offer 2 – Reduced Prices on StoryCube packs of 27, 64 & 125 cubes. Offer ends 14th December.
- 10% discount on all bookleteer Short Run Printing (can’t be combined with other offers) :
Last Printing Date for StoryCubes will be 5th December
Last Printing Date for eBooks will be 8th December
Please use the discount code – BKLTRXMAS11
Public Goods Update
September 23, 2011 by Giles Lane · Leave a Comment
Over the summer we’ve been beavering away in the background exploring new partnerships and planning project ideas and proposals for our emerging Public Goods programme. Although its too early to reveal the projects and partners we’re engaging with just now, we are excited that our aspirations for the programme are beginning to cohere around some specific topics and themes. As the projects and partnerships take shape over the next few months we’ll be posting more about them as well as the experiments and activities we’re developing alongside them.
We’ve also welcomed two new members into the Proboscis team : Gary Stewart and Stefan Kueppers, both of whom have collaborated with Proboscis in different capacities before. Gary is an artist and researcher, currently an Artist in Residence/Research Associate at Queen Mary University of London; Stefan is a designer and technologist who has most recently been a Design & Collaboration Technology Specialist for the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London.
Meanwhile, since the Spring we have been working on a collaborative research project with the Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technologies (CARET) and Crucible at the University of Cambridge which is now in its final stage. The public output of the project will be a set of books made with bookleteer that explore the methods we used; an account of the project’s process, the insights and observations that resulted and the outcome of our reflections. We’re hoping to launch these publications at an event in Cambridge in November this year and will post details nearer the time.
June 2011 Newsletter
June 13, 2011 by radhikapatel · Leave a Comment
Welcome to our June 2011 newsletter. There’s been lots happening at Proboscis since our last missive.
BOOKLETEER NEW FEATURES: BOOKREADER & USER API
This year we’ve launched two major new features of bookleteer: an online bookreader allowing eBooks to be read and shared via the web and a user API (application programming interface) providing access to making eBooks and StoryCubes to other websites and services. We have two virtual residency’ projects nearing completion that explore creative uses of the API, one by James Bridle (stml) and the other by Simon Pope & Gordon Joly. We’ll announce their projects on the blog soon.
http://bookleteer.com/blog/2011/06/new-feature-bookleteer-online-bookreader/
http://bookleteer.com/blog/2011/01/bookleteer-api/
Pitch Up & Publish
One day workshops to create and publish booklets and StoryCubes using bookleteer: guiding you from concept to publication and beyond. 12 July, 13 Sept, £50 / £40 (Early Bird) max 6 places
http://pitchupandpublish.eventbrite.com
Get Bookleteering!
Join one of our of 2 hour sessions to answer your questions about specific projects as well as introduce new users to bookleteer online self publishing tool. 28 June , 26 July, £20 / £10 (Concs) max 6 places
http://getbookleteering.eventbrite.com
JUNE SPECIAL OFFER:
20% OFF SHORT RUN PRINTING WITH BOOKLETEER
For this month only we’re offering a 20% discount on all Short Run Printing orders made with bookleteer (can’t be used with other offers/discounts). Use the discount code : BKLTR0611-20
Check out our prices on the printing price estimator:
http://bookleteer.com/blog/ppod/
FIFTIES FASHION COMMISSION
Alice has been commissioned to create a new body of work by curators Day + Gluckman for the Collyer Bristow Gallery in Bloomsbury. The work, (on show now until early September) includes drawings and fabric designs inspired by fashions of the Fifties. Alice’s work includes a collaboration with fashions designer, Mrs Jones, on a spectacular dress and apron made from her fabric designs.
http://proboscis.org.uk/projects/fabric-design/
NEW PROGRAMME: PUBLIC GOODS
We are now developing a major new creative programme, R&D Lab and training programme for young people under the conceptual framework of “Public Goods”. Through research and public projects and a new creative placements programme we will be exploring the how to make and share representations of the intangible things that we value most about the places and communities we belong to, such as stories, skills, games, songs, techniques, memories, local lore and experiential knowledge of local environment and ecology. We are actively looking for partners, collaborators, funders and supporters please get in touch to find out more.
http://proboscis.org.uk/projects/public-goods/
http://proboscis.org.uk/projects/public-goods-lab/
http://proboscis.org.uk/projects/creative-placements/
PUBLICATIONS SALE
We’re offering a massive 70% off the normal prices on a batch of our publications. The ‘Austerity Special Offer’ bundles the Social Tapestries Case of Perspectives, Endless Landscape Magnet Set, the Being In Common Catalogue of Ideas deck of cards, COIL 9/10, Mapping Perception and Pavel Buchler’s Ghost Stories all for just £29.99 (UK), £34.99 (Europe) or £39.99 (World).
http://proboscis.org.uk/store.html#offers
CITY AS MATERIAL
We have recently published a limited edition numbered and case bound set of 10 books created for our City As Material project last Autumn. The set includes work by Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino, Tim Wright, Ben Eastop, Simon Pope and collaborative books created by the participants.
http://proboscis.org.uk/store.html#cityasmaterial1
The books are also published on Diffusion and can be downloaded, printed out and made up from here:
http://diffusion.org.uk/?cat=976
LEONARDO ELECTRONIC ALMANAC EXHIBITION: REDRAWING BOUNDARIES
Proboscis has been selected by curator Jeremy Hight for an exhibition presenting “key innovators in Locative Media, New Media and Mapping in a show that works to display not only fields and works but more of cross pollinations, progressions, the need to move beyond labels just like the importance of reconsidering borders on maps, what space is and what pragmatic tools and previous forms can do.”
http://www.leoalmanac.org/index.php/lea/exhibition/lea_new_media_exhibition/
CRITICAL TEXTS: BRONAC FERRAN, FRED GARNETT & FREDERIK LESAGE
This Spring we published 3 essays on our work and practices by ‘Critical Friends’. Each looks at a different aspect of what we do, why and how, observing our impact from their own varied perspectives:
http://proboscis.org.uk/2665/in-through-a-dark-lens-by-bronac-ferran/
http://proboscis.org.uk/2612/enabling-consequences-by-fred-garnett/
http://proboscis.org.uk/2624/telling-worlds-by-frederik-lesage/
NEW TITLES PUBLISHED ON DIFFUSION.ORG.UK
We’ve published lots of new titles on http://diffusion.org.uk, including new works by Adam Greenfield & Nurri Kim, Tim Wright, Cartoon de Salvo, Dodolab, John Hartley, Cambridge Curiosity & Imagination, Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino, Ben Eastop, Simon Pope and many others.
Thanks for reading. We hope to see you at some of our events or interact online.
Bookleteer’s new web bookreader
June 11, 2011 by Giles Lane · Leave a Comment
This year’s seen several major milestones achieved in developing our bookleteer platform. At the beginning of the year we launched a User API (Application Programming Interface) allowing people to create and share eBooks and StoryCubes directly from their own projects, applications and websites.
In February we unveiled a new price estimator to help people calculate the costs of printing and shipping (all over the world) eBooks and StoryCubes through our Short Run Printing Service. We combined this with new pricing structures that make both the eBooks and StoryCubes cheaper and easier to order in small quantities (from 50 copies)
This month we’ve launched what we think is our most exciting new feature : an online bookreader allowing users to read and share their eBooks via standard web browsers. We have also re-vamped the user interface for creating and editing eBooks which should make it simpler and more intuitive. Below is an example of an embedded ‘mini reader’ showing an eBook created by Caroline Maclennan as part of Alice’s As It Comes project in Lancaster:
You can also find plenty more (and growing) over on our Diffusion website.
Hot Science, Global Citizens Symposium
April 27, 2011 by Giles Lane · Leave a Comment
Next week I’m travelling to Sydney to participate, as a ‘provocateur’ in the Hot Science, Global Citizens Symposium, held at the Powerhouse Museum. I’m taking part in a session called Creative Agency and Programming in Museums and Science Centres with Seb Chan, Wayne LaBar, Tara Morelos & Declan Kuch. I’m also hoping to do one or more City As Material/Anarchaeology events whilst I’m there – more on that soon.
My talk is called Oblique Devices :
In Proboscis’ work we rarely address problems like ‘Climate Change’ head-on. As artists we feel empowered to raise questions but cannot claim to have definitive answers or solutions. Our practice is to entice, provoke, humour and challenge, not to preach or claim authority. However, change is a constant feature of history and how humans respond to it reflects our social and cultural adaptability, the dynamism and resilience of our cultures and civilisations. By creating projects that provoke dialogue within and across communities we hope to challenge some of the powerful, and often misleading, nostrums of our age; to pause and reflect before we commit ourselves to unequivocal outcomes. What we offer is critical dissent; what we hope is that people are inspired and empowered to shape their own responses, to weave their own patterns within the changes that surround them.
About the session :
Panelists will address key aspects of creative thinking and creative practices about climate change, discussing their own projects and visions on climate change in response to some of the key themes being addresses by the HSGC ARC Research Linkage Project in order to stimulate debate around climate change. Possible themes may include: climate change and citizen engagement; artist-led projects on creative mitigation and environmental education; creative strategies for audience engagement and civic participation; developing awareness campaigns and critical consciousness on climate change action; the role of interactive and pervasive technologies for collaborative initiatives and local community engagement on climate change, such as sensor technologies, alternate reality games, social media, smart phone apps, GIS mapping, etc. Speakers are invited to present ideas for museums/science centres creative programming design and to offer their views on opportunities of transdisciplinary and collaborative research.
More information about the symposium :
HOT SCIENCE, GLOBAL CITIZENS: the agency of the museum and science centre sector in climate change interventions Symposium,
Sydney, Australia, 5-6 May 2011Climate change is an environmental, cultural and political phenomenon that is reshaping the way we think about ourselves, our societies and humanity’s place on Earth. This symposium presents the research findings of the Australian Research Council international Linkage project, Hot Science, Global Citizens: the agency of the museum sector in climate change interventions along with other leading research to develop new knowledge about what constitutes effective action around climate change, the critical roles that institutions can play and visions for the future of museums and science centres. The second day will feature an ‘unconference’ session to tease out innovative programming ideas and engage participants in discussions.
Speakers include:
Professor Mike Hulme School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, UK
Elaine Heumann Gurian International Museum Consultant
Dr Emlyn Koster CEO Liberty Science Center, USA
Professor David Karoly Climate scientist and public commentator
Dr Saffron O’Neill Post-Doctoral Fellow, University of Melbourne
Giles Lane Director, Proboscis, London, UK
Dr Dawn Casey Director, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney
Frank Howarth Director, Australian Museum, Sydney
Professor Graham Durant Director, Questacon, Canberra
Tara Morelos d/Lux/MediaArts
Wayne LaBar Vice President, Exhibitions and Programs, Liberty Science Center, USA
Seb Chan Head of Digital, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney
Declan Kuch Australian Youth Climate Change CoalitionProject researchers Academic team: Dr Fiona Cameron (Lead Chief Investigator); Professor Robert Hodge; Associate Professor Brett Neilson and Dr Juan Salazar from the Centre for Cultural Research, with Professor Jann Conroy from the Centre for Plant and Food Science and Professor David Karoly from the University of Melbourne, Dr Ben Dibley, Dr Anne Newstead, Dr Ann Deslandes, Dr Carol Farbotko
Partner organisations and researchers: Museum Victoria, Melbourne; Powerhouse Museum, Sydney; Australian Museum, Sydney; Questacon, Canberra; Liberty Science Center, Jersey City, US with the University of Melbourne, Earth Sciences and the School of Museum Studies, University of Leicester, UK.
Outside The Box eBooks
March 15, 2011 by mandytang · 1 Comment
Take notes, draw maps, make sketches, stick things in, scribble away!
(Drum rolls) Ladies and Gentlemen, I proudly present the finished eBooks!
The eBooks are part of Outside The Box and were created to accompany the play sets, they act as props to help stimulate game play.
I’ve created a total of six eBooks that fit with the role playing set, each eBook corresponds to the six roles available. Once roles have been assigned, players can take their eBooks with them to carry out missions. They can use it to take notes, draw maps, sketch images or even stick things into, they can do whatever they like with these eBooks that will assist their game experience.
But what’s inside you ask? (sniggers). Each book is themed to each role, not just on the cover, but the inside pages too. All pages inside are hand drawn with blank spaces for the player to use, it’s printer friendly and encourages players to freely scribble in them.
The eBooks can also be used for the other play sets too! For example, players can choose an eBook of their choice and use it to play along the story telling game. Or they could use the eBooks to create strange combination animals. (More suggestions available in the Outside The Box Suggestion eBook).
I enjoyed designing and creating the eBooks, it all began with making miniature versions as the initial design. Then making the basic prototype and moving onto finalising details and adding messages to the players. I had a lot of fun making the eBooks, I now hope that players will enjoy the finished product.
The eBooks aren't limited to the Role playing set, they can be used for the other games too!
Public Goods : a survey of the common wealth
February 2, 2011 by Giles Lane · 3 Comments
This year we will begin a major new programme of projects exploring the intangible things we value most about the people, places and communities we live in : Public Goods. Through a series of projects over a 5 year period we’ll be making artworks, films, events, exhibitions and publications in places across the nation (and hopefully abroad too) working in collaboration with both other creative practitioners and local people.
In this first year we’re planning a series of smaller research projects to help us meet and engage with collaborators, identify places and communities, themes and activities. We’ll be using our City As Material format for collaborative urban exploration and zine-making as a method of investigating new places with local people, and also focused projects, like Alice’s As It Comes, in both urban and rural settings exploring other knowledges and experiences that are often overlooked or are being swept away by the fast pace of social change. We also plan to continue our research collaborations into new technologies for public authoring, play and sensing the world around us (such as Urban Tapestries, bookleteer and Sensory Threads).
Our aim is to build up an archive, or archives, of the intangible goods that people most value and want to share – transmitting hope and belief through artistic practice to others in the present and for the future. In the teeth of a radical onslaught against the tangible public assets we are familiar with (libraries, forests, education etc), Public Goods seeks to celebrate and champion a re-valuation of those public assets which don’t readily fit within the budget lines of an accountant’s spreadsheet.
We’d love to hear from communities, practitioners or organisations who’d like us to work with them around this theme – do get in touch.
December 2010 on diffusion.org.uk
January 13, 2011 by Giles Lane · Leave a Comment
eBooks and StoryCubes published on diffusion.org.uk in December 2010 :
The Idea Store & bookleteer by Christina Wanambwa
Deep City by Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino
Layered – a collaborative eBook produced by the participants of the City As Material : Underside event
Ancient Lights, City Shadows – a collaborative eBook produced by the participants of the City As Material : Skylines event
bookleteer & Museum of Childhood by Christina Wanambwa
City As Material : Sonic Geographies – a collaborative eBook produced by the participants of the City As Material : Sonic Geographies event
City As Material : Sonic Geographies eNotebook
A New Workers’ SongBook Song Writing Work Book for New Songs by Tiny Bill Cody & DodoLab
A Sketchbook of Lancaster by Caroline Maclennan
November on diffusion.org.uk
December 18, 2010 by Giles Lane · Leave a Comment
A handy list of eBooks and StoryCubes published on diffusion.org.uk in November :
City As Material Underside eNotebook
The Tournament of Beasts by DodoLab
As It Comes eBook & StoryCubes by Alice Angus
City As Material : Skyline eNotebook
Ebb and Flow – a collaborative eBook produced by the participants of the City As Material : river event
City As Material : River eNotebook by Proboscis
Mandy’s guest post on NDotM blog
December 6, 2010 by Giles Lane · Leave a Comment
Mandy recently had a guest post published on New Deal of the Mind’s blog where she discusses her experiences of the first few months and the GOALS programme which is offered as part of the placements run through NDotM.
welcoming another new placement
December 6, 2010 by Giles Lane · Leave a Comment
We’re very happy to welcome Moin Ahmed to the Proboscis team on a six month placement funded through the FutureJobs Fund, in partnership with the London Borough of Islington.
Moin has joined us as a coder/web development assistant and will be working primarily on bookleteer.com as well as other online projects we have running. He recently completed a degree in Computer Science and Informations Systems at Goldsmiths College, University of London and has been volunteering for non-profits and working on his own projects since then.
With Dodolab in Oxford
December 3, 2010 by hazemtagiuri · Leave a Comment
Yesterday, Giles and myself took a trip to Oxford to meet Andrew and Lisa from Dodolab, who have just arrived in the UK, for an informal City As Material style wander. We thought it might be a great place to hold future Pitch In & Publish sessions, so we explored several of its museums as possible locations for inspiration.
First up, the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, (whose sign actually bears a Dodo) an amazing building hosting the skeletons of various beasts and stuffed creatures, and also containing the entrance the Pitt Rivers Museum. Dedicated to anthropology and world archeology, this extraordinary place is crammed with a huge array of exhibits; ancient handicrafts, shrunken heads, ornate weaponry, lining every inch. Lastly, the Ashmolean, with an extensive collection of western paintings.
Impromptu Pitch In & Publish sessions, perhaps causing some light mischief along the way with our partners in crime Dodolab, would be a great idea. The Pitt Rivers in particular would be perfect, perhaps a storytelling scenario where participants swap real and imagined tales about found objects and create their own eBooks chronicling them. We’re looking forward to returning and having some more fun.
With DodoLab & Broken City Lab in Windsor, ON
November 24, 2010 by Giles Lane · Leave a Comment
From Windsor to Detroit (McKee Park)
I’ve just returned from a research trip to Ontario, Canada with DodoLab where we spent a week planning new projects and doing a site visit to Windsor, Ontario for a batch of projects next Autumn with local artist-led group, Broken City Lab. Windsor is on the south side of the Detroit river from Detroit itself and, whilst being one of the earliest settlements in Canada, owes much of its former prosperity to Detroit’s auto industry. Today it is a town with serious industrial decline, urban blight and heavy pollution from the surrounding heavy industry and the vast numbers of trucks rolling across the Ambassador Bridge from the US into Canada.
Over the next year we aim to participate in DodoLab’s ongoing, intermittent residency in Windsor culminating in a week-long anarchaeological exploration of the city and the history of its futures. Building on the process we are developing through our current series of events here in London, City As Material, we’ll aim to work with local people in and around Windsor to create a series of shareable publications with bookleteer that can begin not just to map out the imagined futures of the past as created by the City and corporations, but also to project new ones based on hopes and aspirations of the grassroots communities who live there now.
Welcoming our two new placements
November 4, 2010 by Giles Lane · Leave a Comment
We’re delighted to welcome Radhika Patel and Christina Wanambwa to Proboscis who have both joined us this week on six month placements, funded through the government’s Future Jobs Fund, in partnership with New Deal of the Mind.
Radhika is joining us as Marketing/Business Development Assistant and will be helping plan and deliver new approaches to marketing our projects, activities and products as well as growing our audiences.
Christina is joining us as Education Assistant and will be working on education and learning projects and partnerships, such as our new collaboration with Soho Parish Primary School.
October Newsletter
October 27, 2010 by Giles Lane · Leave a Comment
October 2010 Newsletter
A roundup of activities, projects, events, publications and other assorted good things/mischief which we’ve been up to recently.
NOW & UPCOMING
CITY AS MATERIAL EVENTS
Proboscis is hosting 5 fortnightly participatory publishing events at our studio from October 15th to December 10th 2010. Each event has a special guest and a topic serving as the focus for producing a collaborative publication/zine (using bookleteer.com) which will be printed in small editions using bookleteer’s PPOD service.
The first event on Streetscapes with guest Tim Wright took place on Oct 15;
The next event on River with guest Ben Eastop is on Friday 29th Oct;
The third event on Skylines with guest Simon Pope will be in November 12th.
http://cityasmaterial.eventbrite.com/
AUTUMN OFFER – 60% OFF SPECIAL SET
To help raise funds for a new security system at the studio (after our 2nd break in this year) we are offering a massive 60% discount on a special set of our previous bookworks : the Social Tapestries Case of Perspectives, Alice Angus’ Endless Landscape Magnets and the Being In Common: Catalogue of Ideas deck of cards.
http://proboscis.org.uk/store.html#offers
NEW STORYCUBE SIZES
We have recently introduced a new medium size StoryCube (82x82x82mm) that is available both as an option to design your own personalised StoryCubes with bookleteer.com and also in packs of blanks to buy for workshops, projects and activities.
http://storycubes.net
DODOLAB WINDSOR/DETROIT
Giles will be collaborating with DodoLab in Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan as part of their ongoing project with Broken City Lab in November.
http://proboscis.org.uk/projects/dodolab-collaboration/
AS IT COMES
Alice has been commissioned by Mid-Pennine Arts to create a new site-specific work in Lancaster in response to the history and future of local trade and independent shops which launches on 10 November and on 4th December there will be a talk and walk-round in the city.
http://lancasterasitcomes.wordpress.com/
TANGLED THREADS
Proboscis is developing a new film about our work with sensors, mapping, mobile technologies and community for an upcoming online exhibition curated by Jeremy Height of the MIT Locative Media Institute. Mandy Tang has created a storyboard for the film which has been published as a Diffusion eBook with pop-ups.
http://proboscis.org.uk/1927/tangled-threads/
NEW BOOKLETEER FEATURES
Over the summer we’ve made a number of changes and added some new features to make bookleteer easier and better to use. Its free to join and create your own Diffusion eBooks and StoryCubes. You can also order professionally printed and bound versions via our exclusive PPOD service. We also have a supporters’ club which ‘crowdsources’ donations towards the costs of developing and maintaining the platform – members get benefits such as discounts on PPOD orders and other freebies.
http://bookleteer.com
http://bookleteer.com/blog/pod/
http://bookleteer.com/blog/alpha-club/
RECENT ACTIVITY
GRAFFITO AT VINTAGE & TENT DIGITAL
Graffito, a free collaborative drawing app for iPhones/iPads, was shown during the summer at the Vintage@Goodwood Festival and then at Tent Digital as part of the London Design Festival. Graffito is a collaboration between BigDog interactive, Queen Mary University of London, University of Nottingham, University of Glasgow and Proboscis, funded by the Horizon Digital Economy Research Institute. Download it from the App Store and play on its global canvas today.
http://proboscis.org.uk/tag/graffito
100 VIEWS OF WORTHING PIER
Alice was commissioned by Artistsandmakers to create new work for Worthing Pier as part of Pier Day/Made in Worthing Festival in September.
http://proboscis.org.uk/1951/100-views-of-worthing-pier-tall-tales-ghosts-and-imaginings/
SEVEN DAYS IN SEVEN DIALS
Proboscis was one of several partners helping young placements in the Culture Quarter programme explore and create new works about the Seven Dials area of Covent Garden. Alice, and our own placements Karine & Shalene, worked with the other young people to create a series of Diffusion eBooks using bookleteer.com
http://proboscis.org.uk/1738/seven-days-in-seven-dials/
DODOLAB RIJEKA
Proboscis took part in DodoLab’s creative intervention in the city of Rijeka, Croatia in June, Alice is making a new animation about the role of the market in city life and Proboscis were helping create and print StoryCubes and Diffusion eBooks.
http://proboscis.org.uk/tag/dodolab/
CREATIVE PLACEMENT PROGRAMME
Proboscis has developed a new creative placement programme in partnership with New Deal of the Mind and the London Borough of Islington. During 2010-11 we will be hosting 7 placements (funded through the Future Jobs Fund). The roles include: communication assistant, creative assistant, marketing assistant, education assistant and web development assistant. Two people have now completed their placements with us, Karine Dorset and Shalene Barnett – you can read their reports on their experiences here:
http://proboscis.org.uk/tag/placement-report/
NEW DIFFUSION TITLES
Below is a list of new titles of downloadable Diffusion eBooks and StoryCubes published on http://diffusion.org.uk since our last newsletter
The Stories So far… by Cartoon de Salvo http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2193
The UnBooklet of Diasappropriation: Situated Moments from the City http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2188
Passivhaus Field Trip eNotebook by Rob Annable http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2182
Streetscapes eNotebook by Proboscis http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2175
Tangled Threads by Mandy Tang http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2171
Graffito by BigDog Interactive & Proboscis http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2146
Topographies and Tales StoryCubes by Alice Angus & Joyce Majiski http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2140A StoryCube about bookleteer.com by Proboscis http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2135
My Work at Proboscis by Karine Dorset http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2130
Bird Song by Melissa Bliss http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2122
Graffito Vintage Festival ScrapBook by Jennifer Sheridan http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2115
Ode to Dawson by Joyce Majiski & John Steins http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2111
Excavations in the Temple Precinct of Dangeil, Sudan by Julie Anderson & Salah Mohamed Ahmed http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2108
Seven Days in Seven Dials by Proboscis http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2096
What Type Are You? A StoryCube Game by Mandy Tang http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2090
Scribbles by Hazem Tagiuri http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2087
Cosmo China 20th Anniversary Exhibition http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2081
Cocktail Recipes by Karine Dorset http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2076
Greenhill eBooks by Gillian Cowell http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2069
Rijeka Pier (RIBA RIBI GRIZE REP) by DodoLab http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2066
Kitchener African Canadian Workshop by DodoLab http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2054
Meet Us At Kont by DodoLab http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2060
Rijeka, City of Diversities by DodoLab http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2051
Rijeka Work Book by DodoLab http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2047
In-site Toronto by YZO http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2039
Schedulers by Alice Angus http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2023
My Thought Book & StoryCube by Shalene Barnett http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2019
Cook ‘N’ Colour by Karine Dorset http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2016
DodoLab: Island Stories Book 1 by Andrew Hunter & Paula Jean Cowan http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2011
The Coalition: our programme for government by HMG http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2008
Autumn 2010 Special Offer/Fundraiser
October 1, 2010 by Giles Lane · 1 Comment
Last weekend the Proboscis studio was burgled for the 2nd time this year. As a result we need to install a new alarm and security system (costing over £2k) so we’re hoping to raise funds for it with a special offer on some of our publications.
We’ve bundled together 100 copies of the Social Tapestries Case of Perspectives, Alice’s Endless Landscape Magnet Set & the Catalogue of Ideas from our Being In Common project – all for less than 50% of their combined usual price.
The magnets and cards make ideal gifts, while the Case of Perspectives is a limited edition artists bookwork created by Alice and me as part of the Urban Tapestries and Social Tapestries projects.
*** Buy your set here ***
