Mobile Connections conference - April 30th and May 1st
The Futuresonic04 conference explores how geographical, cultural and perceptual space are being reconfigured by wireless and mobile media, and looks at the diverse ways in which artists and diy technologists are pushing the limits, and soliciting unexpected or unforeseen results from communication media past and present. Some explore the potential of interfaces unfettered by wires and cables for performance or interaction, while others seek to deconstruct the panacea of access for all, exploring the boundary between open and closed nodes, or developing social and collaborative applications outside the centralised and proprietary networks of the telcos.
Of particular interest are the interventions of the freenetworks, and locative media which uses location aware, networked portable devices for spatial authoring, social networking and artistic interventions. 2004 promises to be the year of locative media, in which ground breaking developments over the past few years are consolidated, and it gains recognition as a significant contemporary movement. Futuresonic04 is pleased to host a conference session and workshop by the Locative Media Lab as the culmination of events at N5M, Transmediale and VSMM, and linked to a series of international initiatives including the Culture 2000 RIXC led network, the RAM workshop, a UK research network and the Banff/m-cult/ACE led Creative Crossings. Mobile connections will broaden the focus on this important field by exploring a range of other artforms that engage in location, such as site specific music and media projects that enable the urban environment to be navigated through sound.
A collaboration between Futuresonic, University of Salford, Liverpool School of Art and Design, Liverpool John Moores University, Urbis and Loca. Creative Crossing session in association with Banff New Media Institute, ISEA2004/m-cult and the Interdisciplinary Arts Department of Arts Council England. A book and CD accompanying the Mobile connections conference will be produced Summer 04.
Visit Mobile Connections artistic projects page and Mobile Connections workshops page. More on mobile connections at mobileconnections.org.Online discussion for curators of mobile & locative media art hosted by CRUMB: April 1st to April 30th
Click here to learn more about Mobile Connections. PDF/143kb
Mobile connections conference
Friday April 30th to Saturday May 1st
Urbis, Manchester M4 3BG. B2B 1&2. Tel +44 (0)161 907 9099. www.urbis.org.uk
Registration 10am
Introduction - Drew Hemment
10.30am, April 30th
Presentation by the Director of Futuresonic04 (UK) - Discussing the 15 months of obsession that led up to Mobile Connections, and some of the exciting discoveries encountered along the way.
Sadie Plant
10.40am, April 30th
Keynote presentation (UK) - A look at the social and cultural effects of wireless technologies, from the impact of the basic mobile phone to the wireless devices of the future, on such issues as the evolution of public space, changing means of trade and communication, emergent modes of political action, and people's perceptions of themselves and their environments.
Network Commons
11.30am, April 30th
Panel - Simultaneously in different places all over the world network renegades have started to build a grassroots revolution from the margins of the net. Free Network groups such as Consume and Free2air suggest that people create a shared network using wireless networking technology based on the 802.11b standard. With radio cards and cheap DIY antennas bridges between homes and offices of users can be built, thereby creating multi-hop networks which by-pass commercial infrastructure. While users enjoy the benefits of high-bandwidth communication within an ever growing wireless data cloud, the free network is connected to the internet at its seems. The free network is based on the ideal of a 'network commons'. A minimum requirement for owners of nodes is to allow free data transit. All communications are two-way and symmetrical, there is no privileged central position in the network. All applications used are based on open standards and free or open source software. All elements of the network commons, the hardware, the software and the content created and shared are held in the public domain and protected by the according licences (GPL, CC, PPD). Equitable access to connectivity and applications makes the network commons a social infrastructure providing links between individuals and communities facilitating participation and exchange. Studying the emerging principles and conditions of the network commons, we are moving closer to an alternative and sustainable networking philosophy for the world.
Armin Medosch (AT/UK)
Adam Burns (free2air/UK)
Jonah Brucker-Cohen (US)
TAKE2030 (UK+++)
Click here for text by Armin Medosch. PDF/75kb
Locative Media
2pm, April 30th
Panel - One area that is perhaps generating the most excitement, and that has caught the imagination of a new generation of artists, programmers and DIY technologists, is the emergent field of Locative Media. Assigning data with spatial coordinates so that it can be accessed from particular points, Locative Media explores how networked mobile devices, when combined with positioning technologies such as GPS, may be used for social communication and organisation, or for artistic interventions in which geographical space becomes its canvas.
Anthony Townsend (US)
Anne Galloway (CA)
Marc Tuters (CA)
Ben Russell (UK)
In association with Locative Media Lab
Click here for text by Marc Tuters. PDF/79kb
Creative Crossings
3.40pm, April 30th
Panel - The current media landscape is being redefined by pervasive computing, cross-platform applications and location-based use. Developing solutions for this environment requires a socially and culturally sensitive approach which takes into account the contextual, situated aspects of user cultures. The Creative crossings workshop is a forum for discussing participatory and creative applications for the development of mobile/located and cross-platform media. Of special interest are the transformative use of spaces and places and the social networks created in participatory authoring. The session will broaden participation and continue discussion on these themes of a Finnish-British-Canadian initiative by m-cult centre for new media culture, Arts Council England Interdisciplinary Arts Department, and BANFF New Media Institute. These three organisations are all sources and locations of support for Research and Applied Research based Coproductions. Attend this session to find out how you can develop your projects through this network.
Tapio Makela (Programme Chair, ISEA2004/Vice Chair, m-cult/FI)
Susan Kennard (Executive Producer, Banff New Media Institute/CA)
Derek Freeman (UK)
In association with m-cult, ISEA2004, Banff New Media Institute and the Interdisciplinary Arts Department of Arts Council England.
5pm - followed by reception
Matt Adams/Blast Theory
10.30am, May 1st
Keynote presentation (UK) - Blast Theory is renowned internationally as one of the most adventurous artists' groups using interactive media, with a particular focus on the social and political aspects of technology. Since 2001 they have been exploring the convergence of online and mobile technologies in collaboration with the Mixed Reality Lab, University of Nottingham, to create groundbreaking new forms of performance and interactive art mixing audiences across the internet, live performance and digital broadcasting. In March this year, they premiered the world's firt 3G mixed reality game in Australia as part of their three month appointment as Adelaide Thinkers in Residence. Matt Adams will be discussing the group's mixed reality games including Can You See Me Now? which won the Golden Nica for Interactive Arts at the 2003 Prix Ars Electronica and Uncle Roy All Around You which is being presented in Manchester at Cornherhouse from 28 April to 8 May in collaboration with Digital Summer.
Wireless Interface
11.30am, May 1st
Panel - Art unplugged. Exploring the potential of interfaces unfettered by wires and cables for art and interaction, the mobile phone as a creative medium, the interface between the body and the nearest node, and the signals and transmissions that fill the air around us.
Andreas Broeckmann (Chair/Transmediale)
Marko Peljhan (Projekt Atol/Makrolab/SLO)
Fee Plumley (the-phone-book Limited/UK)
Tom Melamed (Mobile Bristol/UK)
Zoe Irvine (UK)
Click here for text by Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau. PDF/159kb
Click here for an outline of a project by Zoe Irvine. PDF/159kb
Sonic City
2pm, May 1st
Panel - Sound in wireless environments. How do sound and wireless offer different ways of experiencing space and the city, and where do they connect.
Christa Sommerer (AT) and Laurent Mignonneau (FR)
Tom Wallace (resonance.fm/UK)
Steve Symons (UK).
Location
3.40pm, May 1st
Panel - Perspectives on location within site specific sound. Augmenting debate around Locative media, this session explores how location is encountered in other artforms. Artists presentations include: mobile phones as music making creativity systems, found sounds and sound objects as documented in the new book with accompanying CD ‘Sounds Heard’, recordings from the High Arctic made during the Cape Farewell expedition (2003), and the symbolic potential of sound as signifier, as metaphoric carrier of associative potential.
Colin Fallows (Chair, UK)
Tim Cole (SSEYO/Tao Group UK)
Hugh Davies (UK)
Max Eastley (UK)
Russell Mills (UK)
Entrance to conference included in festival pass and day passes. Not ticketed separately. Tickets