Single Digital Presence
May 24, 2019 by Giles Lane · Comments Off on Single Digital Presence
Proboscis was commissioned by the British Library to devise and facilitate a series of workshops with library users across the UK as part of a user-centred design engagement process for the Single Digital Presence project, exploring the needs and desires of public library users for digital services.
In June 2019 the British Library released a recommendations paper, incorporating the results of our engagement workshops: Digital Transformations for UK public libraries: five approaches to a ‘Single Digital Presence’ .
Team: Giles Lane
Commissioned by the British Library
Begun & Completed 2018
Navigating History
November 3, 2008 by Giles Lane · Leave a Comment
Navigating History was created by Proboscis and curator Deborah Smith to bring to light unique local history collections through a series of specially commissioned projects by practitioners from the fields of art, design, jewellery, film and interactive technology. The project was sited in the richly diverse collections of East Sussex Record Office in Lewes, Folkestone Library & Museum and West Sussex Local Studies Collection in Worthing Library. In each of the libraries and archive you will find three of the commissions, a programme of talks and events, further information including inspirational archive boxes of background materials and you can join in with the project My History.
A significant portion of the local studies collections in the libraries and archive are only accessible through library/archive catalogues and are made available to the public on request. Navigating History‘s imaginative and exploratory commissions unearth items from these collections relating to several hundred years of history including 18th Century inventories, early film, maritime history and local newspapers. By interweaving past and present whilst exploring themes of identity and place the commissions open up unusual and new routes into the collections. A maze of narratives from the unexpected to the peculiar, the tragic to the wondrous are revealed from stories of ordinary people to those documenting momentous events.
Commissioned Artists:
Neville Gabie, Rachel Murphy, Claudia Schenk, Stephen Connolly, Rob Kesseler, Bob and Roberta Smith, Andrew Hunter, Simon Pope, Mah Rana, Jason Bowman and Sally O’Reilly & Cathy Haynes.
Team: Alice Angus, Deborah Smith & Orlagh Woods
Funded by Heritage Lottery Fund, Arts Council England, Creative Partnerships, Kent County Council, West Susses County Council and East Sussex County Council
Topologies
November 3, 2008 by Giles Lane · Leave a Comment
TOPOLOGIES was an initiative a research project aiming to rethink existing manifestations of public art and the sites in which they are received by audiences. Proboscis was interested in exploring ways to engage ‘users’ rather than ‘viewers’ and to devise a model for commissioning and distributing artworks that could be a catalyst for discovery, discussion and creativity.
The TOPOLOGIES framework we developed proposed an integrated national (and international) initiative with four proposed components:
- COMMISSIONS – new works (some derived from the residencies) which use distributable formats such as: visual (print-based or video); aural (audio CD); tactile (Braille, Moon or textile works); digital (CD-ROMs or online art). These artworks are designed to form part of public libraries’ lending and reference collections, to be used, handled, read, touched or listened to rather than simply seen in a glass case.
- ARTISTS RESIDENCIES – hosted by partner organizations such as Public Libraries, Local Authorities, Museum, Galleries, Art Centres and educational institutions.
- www.topologies.org – a web portal with structured interpretation/ educational materials for schools, adult learning and academic uses, as well as directing users to other art-related websites. Intergrated with the Peoples Network and the National Grid for Learning.
- ARTISTS BOOKWORKS COLLECTIONS – selections of exemplary artists bookworks curated by Proboscis and sited as individual collections with all 209 UK library authorities.
By intervening within such public sites, TOPOLOGIES aimed to introduce conceptual art practices (as distinct from public monuments and sculptures) to diverse and new audiences, attempting to widen the audience for contemporary art beyond the gallery experience. Public libraries are seen by Proboscis to be one of the UK’s most important cultural jewels, long-underfunded and lacking in support from central government. As sites for learning and culture they are unparalleled, offering a unique user-centred experience that is different from the viewer experience of a museum or a gallery.
TOPOLOGIES’ long term aim is to increase access to innovative cultural forms and to widen the understanding of artistic activity as a crucial part of the process of social and cultural regeneration.
Download Project Report (PDF 64Kb)
Team: Alice Angus, Giles Lane & Catherine Williams
Funded by the Collaborative Arts Unit, Arts Council England
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
Topologies Report
September 15, 2000 by Giles Lane · Comments Off on Topologies Report
Topologies Feasibility Report: a UK wide public art initiative for public libraries (June 2000)
