Visual Interpretations 1
January 21, 2011 by mandytang · Comments Off on Visual Interpretations 1
Hi all!
Whilst taking a break from Outside The Box I’ve been asked to create visual interpretations for a new project! I’ll be keeping a photo diary of my progress and will post up a photo each week for you all to see.
Alice suggested sticking up some of the visuals for the team to see and there will be plenty more to come!
Outside The Box – First Full Draft
January 19, 2011 by mandytang · 2 Comments
Outside the Box StoryCubes
It took a bit longer than planned, but the set of cubes for Outside The Box have reached the first prototype stage! (Applauds) It took a lot of energy to meet the deadline but seeing the finished prototype makes all the hard work worthwhile, I am very pleased with the results and hope you all will grow fond of them too! Thank you Giles and Alice for your patience and advice in teaching me the palette decision making process and guiding me in polishing the sets to a finished prototype. Thanks to Radhika and Haz for taking time out to assist in assembling the cubes together and working on the story telling set!
What happens next? (grin) we play with them! The next stage will be to test them out, not just with the team but with our target audience – kids! We’ll be thinking of additional ways to play with them, making observations to check that children understand the content on the cubes and hope they will enjoy playing with them. Our findings in this stage will be taken into consideration when making decisions on the final product.
As It Comes; stories, sketches and stitches
January 14, 2011 by aliceangus · 1 Comment
In August 2010 I was commissioned, by Mid Pennine Arts and Lancaster District Chamber of Commerce, to create a work about Lancaster’s independent traders, As It Comes. Building on my previous work about markets and traders I worked with historian Michael Winstanley and artist Caroline Maclennan to research the trading history of the city and to meet local people, shop keepers and traders.
I’ve been developing my use of drawing as a way to research the character of a place and to create a space for conversation; on my visits I began to draw in traders’ places of work, where we would talk about craft and knowledge; communities and friendships and the relationships they have with commodities, food, and people.
What’s inspired me is their skills, care and connection to local communities and suppliers; whether selling fabric, tailoring a suit, fitting a floor, repairing tools, advising on paint, gutting fish or butchering meat. Though I saw many tools of the trade, its not the physical things that people mention most but knowledge, ability to talk to people, honesty and trust.
I spent time with traders to have conversations, collect audio interviews, make drawings and take photographs which have inspired new works combining traditional embroidery with drawing and digital printing on fabric. Lancashire was once famous for cotton manufacturing. Embroidering in cotton seemed appropriate to capture fragments of conversations about intangible skills, experiential knowledge, an uncertain future and the unique relationships these traders have with their customers.
The project was commissioned to investigate the trading history of Lancaster as well as to use some of the empty shop units in town so some of the work is currently in the windows of 18 New Street until the end of Jan 2011 where after it is planned move to another home.
Mid Penine Arts are offering to post free copies of the Project Publication to the first 20 people to share their thoughts on the project. If you’ve seen the work in Lancaster or been have following the project online it would be great to hear your thoughts. You can post in response to this, or alternatively go to:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8CXMDV3
There are two publications and a special set of StoryCubes printed using bookleteer.com – you can download the print and make up version, or get in touch if you would like a specially printed version.
You can download print and make up versions of the project publication and StoryCubes here:
As It Comes by Alice Angus
A Lancaster Sketchbook by Caroline Maclennan
December 2010 on diffusion.org.uk
January 13, 2011 by Giles Lane · Comments Off on December 2010 on diffusion.org.uk
eBooks and StoryCubes published on diffusion.org.uk in December 2010 :
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
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
Moin’s First Impression at Proboscis
January 12, 2011 by moinahmed · Comments Off on Moin’s First Impression at Proboscis
Who am I?
Hello! My name is Moin Ahmed and I have recently graduated in Computing and Information System from Goldsmiths College.
After graduating I went away on holiday for two months, then came back and started job hunting. In this recession I feel lucky that I have managed to get a call to work towards web development, which is what I always saw myself doing. I previously worked on User Interfaces and started building websites for numerous clients. This also involved working on different project proposals and technical reports.
My role in Proboscis.
Through the Future Jobs Fund I was able to apply for the Web Assistant role in Proboscis. My first impression of this place was it looked very creative and friendly. I am enjoying here now, with everyone, as it’s a great atmosphere, very creative and I am learning things along the way.
I have been focusing towards my aims and objectives since the day I started, one of which was to set up a local server to test bookleteer and diffusion. In the past I have installed Windows OS and set up a local server for software development so my challenge here was to install Debian OS inside Mac OS using Virtual Box.
I enjoy challenges, and this was a great way of testing my abilities, therefore, to complete this challenge I started with researching and then double checking with the developers to make sure it met the production server specification. Finally on the 21st Dec 2010 I managed to get the server up and running. Now I am looking forward to test every feature and make sure they all work up to standard.
In the New Year I aim to work directly on developing web projects, primarily HTML, CSS, JavaScript & PHP-based and mobile apps (iphone/Android). I am also looking to learn as much as I can from others, gaining inspiration, and being part of the team to research and identify creative opportunities within the organisation.
What is like working at Proboscis?
Well firstly the building is near the station and has a lot of shops and food places nearby. The studio itself is in the 4th floor but I do not think that is a huge problem as a person can stay active, when walking up those stairs! The environment is very friendly and everyone gets along with each other very well which is brilliant. Overall I am enjoying my time here, as its very easy going, fun and you learn something every day!
