For future reference

Each time I do one of my circuits of one of the Eastsides, I think to myself I should really make a return visit with a camera and properly document the area.

Then I think to myself: I am documenting the area.

Then I think to myself: yes, but some photos would be nice.

Then I think to myself: it’s too much for one person to do; too much for one person to take responsibility for.

Then I think to myself: but if I don’t do it, nobody else will.

Then I think to myself: you’re not going to get paid for it and you can’t afford the time.

…ad infinitum…

This evening I went to suss out what’s happening with all the recent road closures and I ended up taking some snaps.

Right now they look like a batch of slightly dull images of a non-landscape.

In ten years’ time they’ll be a crutch for our fading memories of what it was like when Curzon Street was here. (Assuming the plans to re-route Curzon Street alongside the railway lines are still going ahead.)

Panorama along Curzon Street showing its original location (click for full size).

Panoramic view from the canal bridge opposite the Lock Keeper's Cottage (click for full size).

I remember when all this was fields. Kinda. View from near the junction of Fazeley Street and New Canal Street (click for full size).

Start spreadin’ the news*…

This blog post is supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England

I’ve been sucessful in my Grants for the Arts application for funding to support a programme of professional development activities: a research trip to New York; a visit to V2_ in Rotterdam; Interesting Things I Can’t Talk About Yet in Den Haag; and attendance at Maker Faire UK and Future Everything.

Other than doing the official announcement, I also want to thank everyone who was kind enough to spare some time to contribute a testimonial back when I was preparing the application – they were all very much appreciated on a number of different levels. Thank you!

* it’s the first line of a quite famous song rather than an actual request

Heritage

The Jewellery Quarter: it's full of it.

Recursive loops

Current view of Millennium Point forecourt and Curzon Street. According to the ginormo balloon thing in the atrium, MP is now 10 years old, so that's an impressive collection of scars on the carpark already. Looks like road closures in the lead up to carpark becoming City Park start next week.

Other kings said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built it all the same, just to show ’em! It sank into the swamp, so I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So I built a third one. That burned down, fell over, and then it sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up! And that’s what you’re going to get, lad – the strongest castle in these isles…

Haunt this city

Hannah Nicklin speaking eloquently and passionately about remaking the city; ubiquity; not wanting to live in a world where there is such a thing as a girls’ drink; magical realism; putting bodies at the centre; the need for art to use technology as material, rather than as tool; and cabbages.

http://www.hannahnicklin.com/2011/07/imagining-better-cities/
http://www.hannahnicklin.com/2011/07/tedxyork/
http://npugh.co.uk/blog/19264_seconds/
http://npugh.co.uk/tag/colony/

Routes, Roles & Rules

Following the success of my Ministry of Rules project with The City Gallery back in February [Museum 2.0 interview], they’ve asked me back as project manager for their Summer programme of activities.

This time we’re linking in with the 2Player exhibition at New Walk Museum & Art Gallery (“exploring the abstractions of game play and computers as a form of communication”) and I will talk with anyone who will talk with me at the LCB Depot (“looks at the nature of conversations, the creativity that can come from the gaps, stutters or breakdowns in speaking and the spontaneous production of new ideas that can occur when people meet for conversation and collaboration”).

The Graham Hudson installation housing the exhibition at LCB Depot

From my starting brief I’ve put together a framework to allow us to really explore the potential of the gap and journeys between the two exhibition sites. Loosely based on the idea of a Choose Your Own Adventure gamebook, rather than getting a bit grumpy about having to shepherd people to an unfamiliar venue, or even just working on a fixed route between New Walk and the Depot, we’ve defined a group of possibilities. The workshops will work with these to explore the layering of stories and characters over the top of the routes and the decisions made along them.

The workshops will run for the two weeks between the 15th and 26th of August, with different workshops aimed at different age groups ranging from 0-2 years through to 12-17 years. We’ve got an absolutely top-notch team of artists lined up to lead these sessions: Graham Langley (storyteller and one of the Traditional Arts Team), Lindsay Jane Brown (who has worked on early years programme with the REP), Sian Watson Taylor (a narrative-weaving artist who’s worked with more galleries and schools than you can shake a story dice at) and Ashley Brown (digital artist to be found in ludic rooms of all sorts). That’s a pretty amazing collection of skills and expertise we’re unleashing onto the streets of Leicester!

If you’re under the age of 17, you and your responsible adults can sign up for workshops here. (They’re all free, most will include BISCUITS! and most will involve exploring outdoor space – be prepared!)

The Routes, Roles & Rules programme also has its own blog where you can read more about the artists and the workshops as they take place. We’re very much interested in the idea of building on themes that come out of the workshops, so keep an eye on the activities section where we’ll be posting stories, tasks, and trails that you can download and do yourself. Here’s the first one – Story detectives – to get you started.

The Story detectives worksheet - can you find all the story clues and mark them on the map? Bonus marks if you can then make a story using them. Suitable for all ages!

Don’t forget to share your results with us!

~~~
Oh, and whilst we’re on the subject, I also had a bit of a hand in planning the activities for The Herbert‘s Wild Worlds early years summer exhibition. You know it’s a good sign when you’re sat in a planning meeting trying to figure out what small children you can borrow to be able to take part yourself!

Exploring with MADE

MADE staff did some learning; I did some delighting and bemusing; we all did some brainstorming…

Soft-switched circuit bent Funky Furby

This Furby bend has been prompted by a workshop I’m running with SoundNetwork in Liverpool next week. The demo Furby I’ve previously taken along to these things seems to have come off the worse for wear, so I wanted a bent Furby that’s still within its protective layers. I also wanted to try something a little bit different to the ubiquitous push and toggle switches, so I experimented with conductive thread to see how that changed the experience of affecting through touch.

Since my posts documenting circuit bending a Funky Furby consistently get a lot of traffic and people seem to find my ‘research‘ useful, I thought I’d better post this video:

Funky Furby bend with conductive thread from nikkipugh on Vimeo.

I’ve simply soldered two wires to the bend points, fed them out of a convenient hole in the back of the plastic shell, made a loop in the ends of them and sewn this loop to the inside of the fur with conductive thread.

After replacing the fur (I didn’t need to detach it fully, just open it up around the base and peel it up over the back so I could open the shell) I then sewed more thread to the points where the wires were attached.

Many thanks to Kit Larks and Lynne Bruning for supplying the raw materials.

Circuit Bending 101: the SoundNetwork edition

It’s with great pleasure that I’m now able to announce the third in the series of Circuit Bending 101 workshops.

11-6 on Saturday 9th of July.

This time, with much support from Adrian McEwen, Cheapjack and SoundNetwork, the bleepy noises will be emanating from the STATIC Trading Co. studios in Liverpool.

A dozen people, three projects to introduce you to the basics of circuit bending, all the tools and components you’ll need, a possible guest furby and definite cake. SoundNetwork have been kind enough to subsidise the ticket price, so all this for only £25. Quite frankly, that’s a bargain!

Full details are over on the Eventbrite page. And to whet your appetite there’s a bunch of photos and videos from the last workshop in this Flickr Set.

Tickets will be available from 11am next Friday (24th of June).

Midwest documentation

Welcome to the Midwest

I few days ago I stumbled across some documentation for the Midwest programme on the a-n website:

Midwest (2003-2008) was a visual arts project developed by Jason E Bowman, Rachel Bradley and Julie Crawshaw – with many contributions from artists, curators and thinkers – to complement the development of artistic practices within the visual arts.

Midwest aimed to develop regional, national and international dialogue and partnerships within the visual arts profession to:

* Develop the ambitions and capacity of artists and artist-curators within the West Midlands
* Develop a critical mass of nationally and internationally active practitioners
* Support the development of the West Midlands region as a European centre for artist-led activity and debate.

Midwest developed a web-based global community and an on the ground programme in the West Midlands and throughout the UK including: talks, project development events, research and development trips and a graduate showcase exhibition.

Thank you to Rachel Bradley for providing the following pdfs for publication and wider dissemination. The reports offer insights into Midwest’s development work and expose vital thinking around artist-led activity and culture.

Midwest – Overview

This document provides an overview of the work, activities and programmes of Midwest – a catalyst for creative thought and action to complement the development of artistic practice within the visual arts.
Download as PDF

Midwest – Word of Mouth

‘Word of Mouth’ was a programme of activity designed to build capacity for the development of (inter)national projects in the West Midlands region, UK. The programme involved a series of three evening workshops at VIVID (a project space for Media Arts in Birmingham) and a weekend of workshops at 22 Green Street (an artist-led project space in Birmingham).
Download report as PDF

Midwest – Know your Place

‘Know Your Place’ was a programme that examined the potential for artist-led policy intervention in cultural strategy and development. It profiled the environments and contexts of both cultural developers and artist-led initiatives, examining top-down and bottom-up approaches to policy development.
Download report as PDF

Midwest – Up, Up and Away

Dr Pete Mann was invited to facilitate the demise of Midwest through a final two-day workshop called ‘Up, Up and Away’, in February 2008. Pete contributes to international and cross-cultural programmes of innovatory learning and research practice. His research interests in action learning and action research, experiential learning, tacit knowledge and organisation and management development gave him a global learning perspective to make sense of Midwest. Pete was invited to find out how the participants experienced and valued Midwest as a ‘learning initiative’.
Download report as PDF

I graduated from my art degree in 2006, so Midwest was going on just as I was starting to do stuff for real. I attended a few of the later events and they hugeley shaped my thinking and my practical skills for things like project planning. Self Service always said it was spawned from the early Midwest events, so all in all I owe a lot to Midwest for my early professional development.

Thanks to Jason, Rachel and Julie for putting it all together, and for everyone else who was part of the various events and meetings.

I’m off now to wield my Project Planning Matrix.