Exhibition of Colony-related work at Phoenix Square

Following on from the residency I recently did at the Phoenix Square digital media centre in Leicester, traces of my work are now being exhibited in their public spaces around the foyer and café.

I understand there’s a short gap over this weekend to make way for an animation festival, but other than that my work runs through until Friday the 30th of March.

Residency at Phoenix Square, Leicester – participants wanted

23/02/2012: Updated with this eventbrite link.

Next week I’ll be the third and final resident at Phoenix Square in the series that started with Engagement Party and The Institute for Boundary Interactions.

My blurb has yet to make its way onto the website, so here’s the skinny:

Over the next few months, a range of artists will be living, working and creating brand new artworks at Phoenix Square, taking inspiration from this unique cultural building and its surroundings…

Nikki Pugh is evolving technological creatures that affect the way you navigate the cityscape.

Nikki’s project ‘Colony‘ is an ongoing series of experiments in which she is developing a group of creatures that respond in real time to the landscape through which they are being carried.

Having already built prototypes that vibrate differently depending on whether they are in open or confined spaces, Nikki will be using radio communication and biofeedback to investigate aspects of flocking and interconnectedness.

Stay tuned for opportunities to become part of the colony and contribute to the play-testing in and around Phoenix Square.

Nikki Pugh is an artist who investigates issues around interaction: how we interact with spaces and landscapes; how we interact with each other; and how we interact with objects. Her practice is located somewhere in the intersection of people, place, playfulness and technology.

Basically the plan is to do a series of experiments involving radio communication and, I think, galvanic skin response readings. You probably know enough about me by now to know that this will mean going out into the streets and trying stuff out to see what happens.

Since I’m particularly interested in flocking and interconnectedness for this residency, that also means I’ll be needing to muster small groups of volunteers in order to try stuff out and see what happens.

If you’re up for spending some time next week exploring the streets of Leicester whilst carrying a small radio unit and with a few sensors attached to your fingers, you can sign up at this eventbrite page.

Thanks!

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!

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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!