transitlab

I take up the nomadic art/researcher mode today. Leave sunny Newcastle (yes its actually sunny!) travel down to london to catch a plane to Singapore for the Inter-Society for Electronic Arts(ISEA) conference. In the nature of these events I will cross paths with researchers/practitioners/curators from Lancaster(imaginationLancaster), Manchester(Cornerhouse&Futuresonic), Sunderland(Crumb) and Newcastle(Culturelab).

There will be a large contingent of Australians too. Compared to Europe, Australia and Singapore are practically next door.

What I am looking forward to are the discussions by new media networks and platforms for collaboration between arts and other fields of inquiry. It is not that art has the sole role of making work about social worries, environment or addressing aesthetics, but it is disenginious to say that it has none.

One project that inspires me is Luminous Green, initiated by Fo.am. It asks what are the possibilities and realities of using technology and know-how to envision a luminous green future rather than a dull grey one(this article is interesting on a factor 4-10fold reduce in the use of resources.

I will be talking about locative games in my paper Location! Location? Location!! (10am Nanyang Technological University B1-3 27th July 2008) These are games/experiences that have a sense of place, may use technology like GPS, mobile phones), what it promises and what the reality is.

This activity is supported by the National Lotterry through the Arts Council England Grant for the Arts (hence the logo).