Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Re: [Yasmin_discussions] hybrid city as interface - introductions

Dear Daphne, others - I've just realized that 'regionally' speaking
I'm out of your geography substantially...however, there are many locative
projects we have in common...

quoting from Daphne's post:

>Molly , hello, great that you are writing feedback from this
festival.Citycentered seems to have had a programme of very interesting
projectsindeed.And also very encouraging to learn that the local community
embraced the activities.
What would you say the key elements were that helped into this?

meeting with both artists and community organizers/people, before festival
to introduce the concepts of locative practice to them with images, etc.

careful pairing of artists with interested organizaitons

discussing community track records of artistic projects they were familiar
with or had done - their own programs

luck

making the technology easy to use, obtain, etc.

frisco's history of community based art in practice

installing works at organizations, on street, etc.

getting community people involved in audience development,


***

A project that i believe is worth discussing as an example in this context
as it constitutes a case of social engagement & care is the
transborder immigrant tool
http://www.citycentered.org/#382288/City-Decentered-The-Transborder-Immigrant-Tool
When you have some time, could you write a few lines
about how it was received?

I am happy to discuss this very controversial project. you may know or not
that it has gotten b.a.n.g lab, most notably hactivist
Ricardo Dominguez in a lot of hot water with UCSD, as he has been accused of
encouraging illegal border crossing by several -
namely Arizona State senators.

the tool is an app which transforms - quite powerfully - the tiny
screen interface of the inexpensive cell phone into a navigational device
for finding water in the desert...one way border crossers
lose their life is by dehydration and you may be familiar with
the fact that several humanitarian organizations install water drums in the
desert...the interface includes promising quotes from poltical leaders in
spanish, images of hope, and other poetic devices to support the survival,
spirtual and physical of
the crosser....

it was received well. i had personally invited them to propose
their work, and i got them a presentation at Galeria de la Raza,
where Ricardo and others could speak directly to politicized Latin artists
about the work...

they were relieved to be out of san diego and to have support.

their idea of the creative and supportive, non-commercial application, for
particular situations, has, for me major power
as an activist proposition - whether for the homeless, for
other borders, for micro local events and art work


>I would be very curious to know more about this or other work you would
like
to refer to as examples from the fest

there were many projects in the festival which has import to the community -
many workshop participants spoke about their own histories in the TL for the
first time maybe ever - in a public context. Krissy Clark's BlockOTime,
interviewed all kinds of citizens of that street - Tender Secrets allowed
viewers to come into the gallery and "tell" their secrets and listen to
those of others

so maybe this is the idea of the Invisible Dynamics, posed in another
post....we were trying for this...

locative media and wireless art can turn inside out, remove enclosures,
refocus energies, propose new maps...

Speaking of atlases, maps, etc - An Atlas of Radical Cartography is a nice
project...
http://www.an-atlas.com/

I wonder if there are locative projects proposed for the Straits of
Gibraltar - Fad'iate - the hackitecture, wireless project that took place
there a few years ago, was very intriguing...geographically
specific to Mediterranean

Molly
--
Molly Hankwitz
Contributing Editor, NewmediaFIX,
http://newmediafix.net
http://CityCentered.org <http://citycentered.org/>
www.justmetropolis.org

CV
http://mollyhankwitz.wordpress.com/2009/09/11/molly-hankwitz-cv/

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**mobile research - architecture**
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