Cultural Snapshots
June 5, 2009 by Giles Lane · Comments Off on Cultural Snapshots
A series of essays, polemics and manifestos designed to provoke comment and debate on the contexts in which Proboscis works.
Proboscis accepts proposals for contributions for the series from practitioners and theorists working in fields allied to Proboscis’ areas of activity. Please contact us to propose a submission.
ISSN: 1475-8474 | Free | PDF format
Cultural Snapshots are resourced by Proboscis as part of our core artistic activity – we welcome any donations to help us continue commissioning new titles and providing the texts free of charge to all. To make a secure donation by credit card / Paypal (no account necessary), please click the button below:
No. 16 – Sarah Thelwall : Cultivating Research
No. 15 – Alice Angus : Landscapes in Dialogue
No. 14 – Sarah Thelwall : Capitalising Creativity
No. 13 – Megan Conway : Public Authoring, Education & Learning
No. 12 – Kevin Harris : Common Knowledge
No. 11 – Giles Lane et al : Public Authoring & Feral Robotics
No. 10 – Nick West : The Spatial and Social on your Mobile
No. 9 – Giles Lane : Social Tapestries
No. 8 – Katrina Jungnickel : Sensing the City
No. 7 – Matt Locke : Shaggy Dog Stories
No. 6 – Giles Lane : An Economy of Scarcity
No. 5 – Alice Angus : Near Real Time
No. 4 – Roger Silverstone : Private Reveries and Public Spaces
No. 3 – Giles Lane : Enterprising Culture
No. 2 – Caroline Smith : Fear are easily rationalised in the attic
No. 1 – Giles Lane : A New Cultural Revolution
Cultivating Research by Sarah Thelwall
June 5, 2009 by Giles Lane · 1 Comment
Cultural Snapshots No. 16 June 2009
Cultivating Research : articulating value in arts and academic collaborations by Sarah Thelwall
Being in Common Catalogue of Ideas
March 27, 2009 by Giles Lane · 6 Comments
As part of our commission, Being in Common, for the Art of Common Space project at Gunpowder Park we created a pack of cards containing our catalogue of ideas. The catalogue is a playful exploration of ‘common space’ drawing together fragments and ideas from across the project, to be played with, read individually or assembled into narratives and stories making unexpected connections and perspectives.
The Catalogue is inspired by the collective nature of playing cards. It includes writing, photographs, imagery and ephemera created and collected during the project, and includes material from the Exploration Packs that Proboscis sent to people around the world to investigate their perspectives on ‘common space’.
The Catalogue of Ideas is one of several works made for Being in Common. Proboscis also created three site specific works in the Park using optics, mirrors and viewmasters, to reveal different perspectives of the site.
Buy Online for £10 including post & packing
A Flash Viewer of the Being in Common Catalogue of Ideas Cards, created by Niharika Hariharan:
Being in Common: Catalogue of Ideas (20Mb)
A Case of Perspectives
March 2, 2009 by Giles Lane · 3 Comments
Proboscis is proud to announce the publication of A Case of Perspectives – a limited edition artists bookwork by Alice Angus and Giles Lane, created as part of Social Tapestries. The bookwork contains a series of designed as well as handmade artefacts inspired by and responding to our experiences in the Social Tapestries programme of projects. 63 Tapestry cards are organised into 3 groups – 21 Endless Landscapes, 21 project photos and 21 Urban Tapestries mobile phone interface screenshots – the reverse sides printed with sections from a map of Urban Tapestries threads and pockets. Also enclosed are 2 StoryCubes, 1 containing images upload by UT trial participants and the other representing 6 principles of public authoring. A copy of the Atlas of Enquiry and a handmade eBook presenting an overview of the Social Tapestries research programme complete the box.
Numbers 1-21 will be sold complete with an unframed original watercolour painting of one of the Endless Landscape panels by Alice Angus. Price – £200 + shipping. Please contact us for more details.
Numbers 22-190 are available to buy online price – £40 + shipping.
Digital Cities: London’s Future
November 17, 2008 by Giles Lane · Comments Off on Digital Cities: London’s Future
Proboscis is exhibiting works from Snout, Feral Robots and Social Tapestries and our film, Play to Invent in a group show curated by architect and masterplanner, Sir Terry Farrell,
“Digital Cities looks at how digital technology helps us understand and improve the planning and experience of our city. It will look at the impact on movement in cities: how communication and information technologies enhance a persons experience of place; how people interpret cities with the use of technology; and how mapping influences the design and planning of cities. It will also discuss some of ‘the big brother’ issues such as privacy and security. “
Digital Cities: London’s Future is on from November 21st 2008 to January 24th 2009 at The Building Centre, Store Street, London WC1E 7BT.
Download the Exhibition Leaflet (PDF 6.9Mb)
UrbanSense08 Workshop
November 6, 2008 by karenmartin · Comments Off on UrbanSense08 Workshop
The third in a series of workshop on the theme of urban sensing, UrbanSense 08 took place in Raleigh, North Carolina in November 2008. The workshop explored ideas, prototypes and realised projects around participatory sensing. Karen Martin made a presentation of ‘Participatory Sensing for Urban Communities’ which described the Robotic Feral Public Authoring and Snout projects which Proboscis had created in collaboration with Birkbeck College, University of London.
Read the paper ‘Participatory Sensing for Urban Communities‘ (PDF 650Kb) by Demetrios Airantzis (Birkbeck College, University of London); Alice Angus (Proboscis), Giles Lane (Proboscis), Karen Martin (Proboscis), George Roussos (Birkbeck College, University of London), Jenson Taylor (Birkbeck College, University of London)
Here is the workshop abstract:
Sensing is going mobile and people-centric. Sensors for activity recognition and GPS for location are now being shipped in millions of top end mobile phones. This complements other sensors already on mobile phones such as high-quality cameras and microphones. At the same time we are seeing sensors installed in urban environments in support of more classic environmental sensing applications, such as, real-time feeds for air-quality, pollutants, weather conditions, and congestion conditions around the city. Collaborative data gathering of sensed data for people by people, facilitated by sensing systems comprised of everyday mobile devices and their interaction with static sensor webs, present a new frontier at the intersection between pervasive computing and sensor networking.
This workshop promotes exchange among sensing system researchers involved in areas, such as, mobile sensing, people-centric and participatory sensing, urban sensing, public health, community development, and cultural expression. It focuses on how mobile phones and other everyday devices can be employed as network- connected, location-aware, human-in-the-loop sensors that enable data collection, geo-tagged documentation, mapping, modeling, and other case-making capabilities.
http://sensorlab.cs.dartmouth.edu/urbansensing/
Perception Peterborough – Impressions
September 15, 2008 by Giles Lane · Comments Off on Perception Peterborough – Impressions
As part of our research for the project, we conducted an anarchaeology of the city and its people and created a series of Impressions to inspire different perspectives on the key themes for workshop participants and project stakeholders.
The Impressions, initially created as a means of conveying a local sense of place to national and international participants, were inspired by the series of ‘Wanderings’ that Proboscis undertook with local people in Peterborough as a means of conveying a local sense of place.
We were inspired by the people of Peterborough and the seeds of the future they showed us that Peterborough already has; the diversity, talent, river, and green spaces, fens and waterways, the history and folklore and the great generous friendliness of people who never turned us away. Our Impressions therefore were about the seeds of Peterborough; visible and invisible, from past and future, for hopes
and concerns. They are about what could be seeded, nurtured and grown and what seeds exist here already to help everyone do that.
The wanderings involved conversations and encounters with over 20 local people of different ages and backgrounds. Proboscis journeyed through townships, villages and city by taxi, train, bus, bike, kayak and on foot to investigate and explore the city and its surrounding landscapes. We gained a richer understanding, through local and grassroots perspectives, of people’s perspectives of what it is like to live in Peterborough and their aspirations for the future. The resulting series of Impressions include short films, audio collage, eBooks, StoryCubes and drawings that can be shared physically and digitally and combined with existing policy material to add new perspective to the visioning process.
- Lines of Mobility Diffusion eBook
- Blocks of Change Diffusion eBook
- Bus Adventures Diffusion eBook
- Underused Assets StoryCubes
- Monsters and Mermaids (8 panel french fold booklet PDF)
- Flows Film
- Perspectives Film
- Voices audio piece
- Briefing Pack Book (PDF)
- Briefing Pack StoryCubes (illustrated by Matt Huynh).
Perception Peterborough Briefing Book
September 1, 2008 by Giles Lane · Comments Off on Perception Peterborough Briefing Book
Produced by Haring Woods Associates
Editor: Celia Makin-Bell
Concept and design: Proboscis
Illustration: Matt Huynh
Graphic Design: Carmen Vela Maldonado
Monsters and Mermaids
September 1, 2008 by Giles Lane · Comments Off on Monsters and Mermaids
Experiencing Democracy Report
April 5, 2008 by Giles Lane · Comments Off on Experiencing Democracy Report
Experiencing Democracy Report (April 2008)
Landscapes in Dialogue
November 17, 2007 by Giles Lane · Comments Off on Landscapes in Dialogue
Cultural Snapshots No. 15 November 2007
Landscapes in Dialogue : Thoughts inspired by the Artists in the Park residency, Ivvavik National Park, Yukon by Alice Angus
Capitalising Creativity
November 15, 2007 by Giles Lane · Comments Off on Capitalising Creativity
Cultural Snapshots No.14 November 2007
Capitalising Creativity : Developing earned income streams in Cultural Industries organisations by Sarah Thelwall
Conversations & Connections Report
May 28, 2007 by Giles Lane · Comments Off on Conversations & Connections Report
Social Tapestries: Conversations and Connections (May 2007)
Download PDF 3.3Mb
Order a Hard Copy
Shared Encounters Workshop
April 30, 2007 by karenmartin · Comments Off on Shared Encounters Workshop
‘Shared Encounters’ was a workshop which took place at CHI 07 in San Jose, California. CHI is the annual conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems and this one-day workshop brought together researchers from academia and industry to explore how mobile technologies might support shared encounters in urban environments. Karen Martin and Giles Lane submitted a position paper describing Proboscis’ Conversations and Connections project and the challenges and opportunities faced by projects which make use of, and develop, new technologies but have primarily social goals.
You can read our paper here: Making Glue (PDF 150Kb)
This is the workshop abstract:
Our everyday lives are characterised by encounters, some are fleeting and ephemeral and others are more enduring and meaningful exchanges. Shared encounters are the glue of social networks and have a socializing effect in terms of mutual understanding, empathy, respect and thus tolerance towards others. The quality and characteristics of such encounters are affected by the setting, or situation in which they occur. In a world shaped by communication technologies, non-place-based networks often coexist alongside to the traditional local face-to-face social networks. As these multiple and distinct on and off-line communities tend to carry out their activities in more and more distinct and sophisticated spaces, a lack of coherency and fragmentation emerges in the sense of a shared space of community. Open public space with its streets, parks and squares plays an important role in providing space for shared encounters among and between these coexisting networks. Mobile and ubiquitous technologies enable social encounters located in public space, albeit not confined to fixed settings, whilst also offering sharing of experiences from non-place based networks. We will look at how to create or support the conditions for meaningful and persisting shared encounters. In particular we propose to explore how technologies can be appropriated for shared interactions that can occur spontaneously and playfully and in doing so re-inhabit and connect place-based social networks.
http://www.mediacityproject.com/shared-encounters/description.php
Endless Landscape Magnets
November 20, 2006 by Giles Lane · 5 Comments
The Endless Landscape, polyorama or myriorama (meaning ‘many views’) was a popular 18th and 19th century storytelling game also known as a tableau polyoptique. It consists a series of paintings of fragments of a panorama that can be arranged in billions of combinations to form a continuous landscape for creating stories – each card extending, adding to or changing the narrative. A neverending journey of imaginary landscapes.
Proboscis’ first Endless Landscape, by Alice Angus, depicts 21 fragments of a panorama based on London and was part of Social Tapestries – a 5 year project about mapping and sharing knowledge, storytelling and public authoring using cutting edge mobile and internet technologies and revisiting traditional paper based methods. The flow of ideas from Social Tapestries has increasingly emphasised the importance of storytelling and narrative as a living, everyday process that underpins how people co-create and inhabit culture and society. Part fact and part fiction, the Endless Landscape alters geography and connects events across the timeline of history. Its panoramas are littered with improbable landscapes, curiosities, ghostly evocations, historical anomalies and architectural conundrums.
Set of 18 Magnets – Price £25.00 – Buy Online
ST – St Marks Coop Report
October 15, 2006 by Giles Lane · Comments Off on ST – St Marks Coop Report
St Marks Housing Coop Report (October 2006)
Urban Tapestries: Public Authoring, Place & Mobility
October 15, 2006 by Giles Lane · 1 Comment
Urban Tapestries: Public Authoring, Place & Mobility (October 2006)
Everyday Archaeology Report
September 15, 2006 by Giles Lane · Comments Off on Everyday Archaeology Report
Social Tapestries Everyday Archaeology Report (September 2006)
Public Authoring, Education and Learning
June 15, 2006 by Giles Lane · Comments Off on Public Authoring, Education and Learning
Cultural Snaphots No.13 June 2006
Social Tapestries Policy Paper : Public Authoring, Education & Learning by Megan Conway
Common Knowledge
May 15, 2006 by Giles Lane · Comments Off on Common Knowledge
Cultural Snapshots No.12 May 2006
Common Knowledge: Community development and communication on a housing estate by Kevin Harris
Public Authoring and Feral Robotics
March 30, 2006 by Giles Lane · Comments Off on Public Authoring and Feral Robotics
Cultural Snapshot No.11 March 2006
Social Tapestries: Public Authoring and Feral Robotics by Giles Lane, Natalie Jeremijenko, Camilla Brueton et al
Sound Scavenging Report
March 15, 2006 by Giles Lane · 1 Comment
Experimental Ethnography
February 15, 2005 by Giles Lane · Comments Off on Experimental Ethnography
Urban Tapestries: Experimental Ethnography, Technological Identities and Place (February 2005)
An LSE Electronic Working Paper by Roger Silverstone and Zoetanya Sujon
The Spatial and the Social on your Mobile
January 15, 2005 by Giles Lane · Comments Off on The Spatial and the Social on your Mobile
Cultural Snapshots No.10 January 2005
Urban Tapestries: The Spatial and the Social on your Mobile by Nick West
Botanizing the Library by Rob Kesseler
October 15, 2004 by Giles Lane · Comments Off on Botanizing the Library by Rob Kesseler
An artists’ book by Rob Kesseler accompanying his commission for Folkestone Library and Museum for Navigating History.
Paperback 48 pages, 4 colour throughout ISBN: 1 901540 36 7
Published October 2004
Price £10.00 – Buy Online