Cultural Snapshots

June 5, 2009 by · 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 · 1 Comment 

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Cultural Snapshots No. 16 June 2009

Cultivating Research : articulating value in arts and academic collaborations by Sarah Thelwall

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Being in Common Catalogue of Ideas

March 27, 2009 by · 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:

Catalogue_flash_still

Being in Common: Catalogue of Ideas (20Mb)

A Case of Perspectives

March 2, 2009 by · 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 · Comments Off on Digital Cities: London’s Future 

Proboscis is exhibiting works from SnoutFeral 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 · 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 · 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.

Perception Peterborough Briefing Book

September 1, 2008 by · 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 

Download PDF 3.3Mb

Monsters and Mermaids

September 1, 2008 by · Comments Off on Monsters and Mermaids 

Created by Alice Angus

Download A4 PDF 1Mb

Experiencing Democracy Report

April 5, 2008 by · Comments Off on Experiencing Democracy Report 

Experiencing Democracy Report (April 2008)

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Landscapes in Dialogue

November 17, 2007 by · 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

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Capitalising Creativity

November 15, 2007 by · Comments Off on Capitalising Creativity 

Cultural Snapshots No.14 November 2007

Capitalising Creativity : Developing earned income streams in Cultural Industries organisations by Sarah Thelwall

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Conversations & Connections Report

May 28, 2007 by · Comments Off on Conversations & Connections Report 

Social Tapestries: Conversations and Connections (May 2007)
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DOI

Shared Encounters Workshop

April 30, 2007 by · 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 · 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 · Comments Off on ST – St Marks Coop Report 

St Marks Housing Coop Report (October 2006)

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Urban Tapestries: Public Authoring, Place & Mobility

October 15, 2006 by · 1 Comment 

Urban Tapestries: Public Authoring, Place & Mobility (October 2006)

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Everyday Archaeology Report

September 15, 2006 by · Comments Off on Everyday Archaeology Report 

Social Tapestries Everyday Archaeology Report (September 2006)

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Public Authoring, Education and Learning

June 15, 2006 by · 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

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Common Knowledge

May 15, 2006 by · Comments Off on Common Knowledge 

Cultural Snapshots No.12 May 2006

Common Knowledge: Community development and communication on a housing estate by Kevin Harris

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Public Authoring and Feral Robotics

March 30, 2006 by · 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

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Sound Scavenging Report

March 15, 2006 by · 1 Comment 

Sound Scavenging (March 2006)

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Experimental Ethnography

February 15, 2005 by · 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

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The Spatial and the Social on your Mobile

January 15, 2005 by · 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

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Botanizing the Library by Rob Kesseler

October 15, 2004 by · 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

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