Public Goods : a survey of the common wealth

February 2, 2011 by  

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.

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3 Responses to “Public Goods : a survey of the common wealth”

  1. Tweets that mention Public Goods : a survey of the common wealth | Proboscis -- Topsy.com on February 2nd, 2011 7:51 pm

    […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Mark Simpkins and proboscis, Giles Lane. Giles Lane said: RT @proboscisstudio: ->: Public Goods : a survey of the common wealth http://bit.ly/ei5HVV / what we're going to do next… […]

  2. It Comes and Goes | Proboscis on February 25th, 2011 5:06 pm

    […] had about the intangible aspects of knowledge and skills (which is feeding into our new programme Public Goods).  Whilst I was drawing and interviewing traders I tried to work out what were the tools of the […]

  3. In Through A Dark Lens – The Proboscis Effect by Bronac Ferran | Proboscis on April 21st, 2011 9:19 am

    […] website about their forward programme for 2011 which will focus around the over-arching theme of Public Goods, ‘In the teeth of a radical onslaught against the tangible public assets we are familiar with […]