Crisis is always the best opportunity to do something fresh
April 30, 2009
Posted by Clare in: Events | Add a commentDick Penny, Managing Directer of Watershed wrote this article for After the Crunch a 100-page book where 42 artists, entrepreneurs, commentators,analysts, policy-makers, policy-sceptics, academics, financiers – and citizens – set out their hopes and fears for the future:
For an often all too brief period the old metrics do not apply. We have to seize the moment. It might be harder to find the economic capital, but the social capital is hungry for mobilisation in pursuit of new value.
So lets invest with confidence and joy in creative enterprise. Lets invest in diverse ways through producers who are close to the talent. Lets invest for risk and innovation; in hot spots of open collaboration; in networks of interdisciplinary talent. But do not imagine that this can be done through the hierarchy of our established bureaucracies with their leaden metrics, endless schemes, labyrinthine processes, unintelligible application forms, endless reports, officers trained to drain the energy from any idea.
We need to invest to create without seeking to pre-determine the outcome. And please can we ignore the medium of expression and forget categorisations which separate art and creative industry. We have to encourage not control creative energy in the certainty that some of it will create new value: economic, cultural and social.
So I suggest that while the majority try to rebuild the old system driven by return on economic capital we must also encourage the emergence of a new system based on investment of social capital. Innovation in the creative economy is driven by micro businesses developing creative ideas for the power of their creativity rather than the fit with a well researched market. We need diverse players in open networks with responsive support systems which sustain hope, confidence and ambition over extended periods.
We need to focus on our ‘core cities’ to build distinctive groupings of innovation. We need to let go at the centre and see what grows when the margins are set free.
Download the pdf, edited by Tom Bewick, John Holden, John Kieffer, John Newbigin and Shelagh Wright here.
Another perspective
April 27, 2009
Posted by victoria in: Events | Add a commentLast week Kassian Sheppard joined us on a professional placement from year two of the Creative Sound and Music degree at Newport University. We asked Kassian to share his reflections of being part of the iShed team for a week…
"Before arriving at iShed, other than having a few hopes of what I wanted it to be, I didn’t have any particular preconceptions of what the experience might be like. Immediately, I felt like the Pervasive Media Studio was a nice space in which to work creatively and share ideas, and that all the people working there were enthusiastic and skilled in what they do.
Working at iShed definitely exceeded all of my expectations of a work experience placement, i.e. not just being the tea boy for the week! I was able to attend meetings, which gave me a small, but very valuable, insight into how the creative industry is working at the moment and how research and development projects operate and also see their relevance and importance.
My main project during the week was to research, test, and review, a new social networking platform and iPhone application called ‘AudioBoo’. This was outside of my usual area of work and study, but I thoroughly enjoyed the whole process. I gained insight into how valuable keeping up with emerging technologies is in relation to my own creative development and practice. The testing part of this project was subsequently the overall highlight of my time here, as I was able to talk to and interview practitioners currently working as part of the Media Sandbox scheme. It provided me with the opportunity to meet like-minded people who are out there making professional creative work. This was invaluable to me, as, in the near future, that is exactly where I would like to be. I was also able to talk to them about some of my own thoughts and they were able to offer me their opinions in response.
After spending just a week here, I can see how valuable this organisation is. Its ethos really encapsulates part of what being creative is all about, the means by which you develop an idea. It provides numerous ways in which people can do this and progress to the realisation of their ideas."
You can read more about Kassian's research and conclusions about AudioBoo on the Media Sandbox website.
Nutopia: Exploring the Metropolitan Imagination
April 22, 2009
Posted by victoria in: Events | Add a comment
At the beginning of April I attended the second day of the Nutopia: Exploring the Metropolitan Imagination symposium. The symposium formed part of the wider Arcades Project by artist Jennie Savage.
Nutopia aimed to cross the boundaries between, town planners & artists, activists & architects, social/workers, regeneration agencies and academics, to create a compelling new conversation on the 21st Century City. The symposium explored the ways in which we can reinvent our cities, challenging the idea that city centres are purely spaces of consumption. It looked at possibilities for non-economic exchange and examined tensions between resistance and commodification and how this impacts our personal lives.
It was a great pity I was only able to attend the second day of this event. The mixture of people and ideas that Jennie brought together, formed the basis of some really interesting conversation and comparisons.
The session that particularly resonated for me, was entitled Future Cities…Utopias, Dystopias and making it up as we go along. During this session Dr Rachel Armstrong (teaching fellow at The Bartlett and part of the SmartLab initiative), discussed the possibilities for future architectural models based on biological research - basically living buildings that would be grown, and would be capable of working to combat the problem of rising CO2 emmissions - truly fascinating, but also quite scary.
In contrast to this, we also heard from artist and activist Anne Marie Culhane. Anne Marie leads ABUNDANCE with apple tree diviner and gardener Steven Watts and artist Jo Salter. It forms part of Grow Sheffield and involves the mapping of fruit trees across the city of Sheffield in the UK, harvesting any unharvested trees then giving the fruit away to the community.
The two areas of research and activity had such differing approaches, but both worked to address the socio-economic and environmental challenges our cities are facing on a global scale. These two practitioners created a really interesting juxtaposition, and some exciting conversations were begun.
Media Playgrounds
April 21, 2009
Posted by Clare in: Events | Add a commentTarim presented PTTP at Dorkbot this evening, one of last year's Media Sandbox projects, and created a group etch a sketch using mobile phones on the building opposite the Pervasive Media Studio.
Extended Theatre project
April 21, 2009
Posted by Clare in: Events | Add a commentThe iShed team got on our new 'cycle scheme' bikes today and headed to the Bristol Old Vic, where Sally Cookson is working with HP Labs to devise a new piece of theatre to research wearable cameras and how technology can extend and ultimately enhance a live performance experience. Read more about the project here.
