Public View/Private View

Two events took place simultaneously.

Public View, on local landmark Crouch Hill, Banbury, Oxfordshire, with a live-stream broadcast from the event via Periscope app.

and

Private View, Camberwell College of Arts, London MA Private View, London.

Viewers at Private View could access Public View via Periscope app and Twitter  ,

the account Twitter username being displayed on ‘promotional’ chocolates offered in both locations so both audiences could view and join the event on Crouch Hill via the broadcasts, and participate through live chat.

The Periscope audience included followers who had participated in previous broadcasts from the landmark and others close by during the two years of the research, as well as random on-line ‘passers-by’.

The participants in the Public View, similarly were those previously involved, or arriving through happenstance.

The simultaneous events providing a global participating audience of friends and strangers sharing personal and collective experiences in social, geographical and digital space and time

Other events took place during the days of the Show,  which are recorded in previous posts.

This is the final post of my Research Blog.

More recent work and connect via 

vectorcatalyst

@sangrownun

Thanks for looking!

 

Final Show: #CrouchHillBanbury

Despite the recent Periscope app update which now allows permanent archive of Broadcasts with chat, I made the decision to allow auto-delete after 24 hours.

The ephemerality and impermanence is an essential component of my work and process, highlighting the concept of dynamic socially created space.

Traces of previous broadcasts are now no longer visible as they were previously

Paradoxically, the events below are heavily documented through Screen-shots from the Broadcasts, created within the 24 hrs before they became unavailable……

it’s really hard to let things go…especially when you need evidence of your process….

 

John Ruskin – Work:

15th July

I read aloud from John Ruskin’s lecture ‘ Work ‘ delivered at the Working Men’s Institute Camberwell in 1865,( which is now the South London Gallery……..?)

to link my location on Crouch Hill in Oxfordshire with Camberwell. This also served as a point for further reflections on work, labour, art and relative positions in contemporary society.

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There were 130 in the Lifestream audience at one point and generally retention was better with people usually sticking it out for a while on each brief Scope.I’m finding the stats interesting to analyse despite not searching for ‘Likes’.

I decided to leave the tent up for the duration of the Show, over the weekend and for the rest of the week until Tuesday evening.

I wrote a note to explain and left it in the tent. I left contact details as well, out of courtesy.

Often, teens camp-out and sometimes just leave the tents.

I didn’t want it to be damaged, removed, offend someone unnecessarily or occupied by another person!

Martin Fiennes – Broughton Castle:

16th July:

Martin’s parents are Lord and Lady Saye and Sele.

William FIENNES (1st Viscount Saye and Sele).The only son of Richard Fiennes, 7th Lord Saye and Sele, he was educated at New College, Oxford, and succeeded to his father’s lordship (barony) in 1613. English politician and promoter of colonization in America. He was a Puritan in religious sympathy and a leader in the House of Lords of the opposition to James I and Charles I.

I invited Martin to Crouch Hill, where he spoke of his visions for the preservation of areas of countryside, whilst accommodating the need for housing into the future. He also talked of  his imaginings of the Puritan and Royalist troops, noisily riding up and down past the foot of the Hill along what is now a busy B road, prior to the siege of Banbury Castle, and the Battle of Edge Hill in 1642.

It brought the past alive for a moment or two, and changed my visions of the present.

He was surprised and amused by the 249 viewers.

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Dozing in my Tent:

17th July

I just started to broadcast  and lay down in a warm tent for a doze…showed the sky to  over a hundred people…Strange, this periscope business…

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33 comments! and a surprising number of viewers.

also found a note when I opened the tent…. it said ‘PLEASE DON’T ‘

I wasn’t sure what they wanted me not to do?
Stay….? Go…?

Some dog-walkers came past and had a chat

Paul Mobbs (@ramblinactivist) :

17th July

I’d invited Paul to talk as he has a deep knowledge of the Quaker Civil War history of the area and an involvement in peace activism in contemporary conflict.

He forms a link from this final work to my initial investigations in Croughton , the Reading Room and RAF Croughton.

In fact, when he arrived he didn’t want to talk about those topics at all but lead a popular walk around the Hill discussing local geology and its implications.

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Edith Eisler, 

18th July

This was the anniversary of Edith’s death in 2011. A  violinist, teacher, noted musician and critic.This is  a recording of her playing Hindemith 

I told the story of how my father became friends with Edith and her family during WWII, following their movement from Vienna to Britain.

Also their subsequent correspondence whilst my father found and located in Japanese POW camp in the Far East, and following his release.

This family correspondence continued, even following my father’s death.

Her kindness has enabled me to pursue this Post-Graduate study.

(Along with a Vice- Chancellors Scholarship from The University of the Arts London).

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iChing and Philip K. Dick

19th July

I am interested in the link between subjective evaluation involved in Divination practice and ritual with the binary code which underlies all things digital.

See this article here in The Guardian

and this J Proteome Sci Comput Biol. 2012; 2012(1): 3. Published online 2012. doi: 10.7243/2050-2273-1-3

I had hoped to use yarrow stalks from the Hill but the season was late and there were few available.

I’d also thought of using Glo-sticks but their popularity at the Public View put paid to that…everyone wore them home..

So I used the cards I’d used in previous broadcasts.

The whole event became ludicrous…more so than other Scopes, as Tia and Purdy, the dogs belonging to my ‘assistant’ were in playful mood.

In the end one of the dogs, Purdy, selected one of the cards…

I read from Philip K Dick, the visionary writer, who cites the iChing in The Man in The High Castle.

His alternative outcome from WWII, and the implications, are  worth re- considering now, I believe. The sun set, the moon was almost full.

In total with Louise’s simultaneous broadcast of the event, there were over 750 viewers..

???!!!!

These were the cards selected.

4 Meng: INEXPERIENCE

Humbleness and sincerity when comprehending will increase knowledge.

9 Hsiao Ch’u GENTLE RESTRAINT, HOLDING BACK

Dense clouds suggest postponing the action till after the rain.

56 Lu: THE WANDERER, THE TRAVELLER

The steadfast and persistent traveller will have good luck.

Make of that, what you will….

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UAL Summer Show: Camberwell College of Arts, Wilson Road, London SE5 8LU

20th July

I went to the Final Crit with my cohort at Camberwell. Saw many of my colleagues and enjoyed seeing the Show.

It was odd walking into an exhibition containing my own work but where I had delegated set-up to colleagues. They had displayed many of the bowls around the building but as these are now empty they had been removed.

The last remaining had been give a plinth, two bowls placed one inside the other with a top light in a dark space. It looked tremendous! Donald Takeshita-Guy had been mainly responsible and is keen on developing his curation skills.

It worked really well

Later, Clara and I met with the collective of artists to talk about plans for our residency in Norway in 3 weeks time. Very exciting.

Little Venice Studio  with Clara Duran, Keir Williams,  Dave Meckin, Alice Helps, Joe Fairweather-Hole

and then…..NORWAY RESIDENCY and Neptune Developers Camp, Melbu, Nordland

Neptun Introduction

and as Manuel from MAFAD said

” So long and thanks for all the fish”

Its been amazing,  Thanks Jonathan K!

#CrouchHill Banbury #Public View #Camberwellual

Louise messaged me this photo of the yarrow emerging on the morning on the Public View…

Better late than never…

Some of the people who had been involved in the events, gathered over the evening at the summit.

Several of us were broadcasting the event via Periscope and others who had been involved but couldn’t be there in person ‘hopped on’…

Some people managed both- to be there at a distance and then join in person…

 

Some of the sharing paraphernalia…

People brought Champagne and flowers

 

 

The Covenant of Salt, ‘Twitter’ chocolates, and Mystic Writing pads were enjoyed by many… even those who claimed no artistic talent!

Games had unexpected winners..or no winners at all depending on the play.

People were Periscoping people Periscoping people Periscoping ………etc

 

Clara Duran was taking photos of the Summer Show in Camberwell at the same time, and watching proceedings on Periscope on Jonathan’s phone ( see later)

I hadn’t realised that they had also announced Clara and my Residency Award in Norway  at the award ceremony.

 

Here are images of some of the group’s work : Clara, Tristan ( our work has some similarities..) Pete ( who I have still never met!), Pascale, Donald, Yvonne and Sharon

SIMULTANEITY:

Some examples of the simultaneous images taken and simultaneous events ( if the clocks on our phones and cameras and image files are to be believed ) in Camberwell and on Crouch Hill.

 

19.41

 

19.46

 

19.53

 

20.14

Below are some screen shots which show the involvement of the Periscope audience when I went to find Clare Carswell, who also took many of the documentation photos – Thanks Clare)

She had been following proceedings on the phone but then drove to the Hill to try to find us.

I had thought of putting up signs but it would have changed the event and the Happenstance element for people who hadn’t had direct invitations

Also it was fun to see people randomly wandering around, getting lost, finding each other, talking to strangers, and eventually finding us at the summit!

 

‘ I’ve never seen so many Lost People!’ – Thanks JimStr

People made it to the top, physically and via our Live streams.

 

Drawing time is Catherine Lette,  who was documenting her visit to the Summer Show Private View in Wilson Road, Camberwell and simultaneous experience of Crouch Hill, Public View and some of my work in the process

The Screen shots below are from my Stream

 

These are from Catherine’s @drawingtime phone and stream

 

These are from Sharon Bertram’s

 

Here’s an example of chat during the stream…Anything from dog snacks to Brexit

Which at least gives it some time-reference.

Importantly, people  visiting the Show did seem to be accessing the Periscope Broadcasts at least via the Twitter feed from the Username on the Chocolates!

[EDIT 21st July:  There were large numbers in the LiveStream Audience by the end of the Show – over 700 for the last broadcast ]

 

Finishing with some amusing screen shot showing middle-ages people whth Glo=Stick necklaces.

I’ll never forget wending our way down the Hill carrying the tent etc, winding through the woodland in the dusk, Glo-necklaces bobbing up and down in the distance…Sadly not on the Broadcast

 

The event went well with some good interaction and a reasonable audience in both ‘locations’, from 30- 159 on the stream…not that I’m counting! ( Ha!)

 

Final Show Preparations 4 and Public View

The chocolates arrived safely in Peckham yesterday, only to be eaten by all my colleagues, if Jonathan’s text is to be believed!

The locations of the bowls and the distribution of the chocolates will be up to my colleagues so I have no real idea if they will be on plinths displayed as ‘artwork’ or scattered around more informally.

I’ve been distributing invitations to the Show and the Public View on Crouch Hill, around the various communities I work and socialise with, have posted some invitations and chocolates, and pushed some through friends’ letterboxes.

If people have been involved in some way with the project they will be invited as well as friends..so dog walkers, carers group, leisure artists,  ( you can see the enthusiasm!) geocache advisor, chocolatier, printer and courier……

I will also put some invitations in a map holder and fasten it to the Trig Point at the summit. Some of the people who have been interacting with the ‘building development‘ may be interested in coming….

I’ve also sent the usual email invitations to the Show in Camberwell and will circulate via Twitter and have a few chats on Periscope beforehand to invite regular followers.

I hope, on this occasion, to have a meeting of communities ; Crouch Hill- Camberwell- Periscope.

I also have a loose programme of events for viewers during the Show, ensuring that something is present on my Twitter feed and Periscope app ( where there will be interactive cuhatvia the Live Stream)  whilst the Show is Open.

The Public View is rather more ‘structured’ as the other events depend of people who have said they are interested in being involved being available on the day……..so below is ‘sort of a plan’.

Claire Winfield will be on an archaeological dig in Dorchester-THames but will be joining us by Periscope, and Martin Winfield will be watching on the desktop app and calling in on his mobile from ‘his’ mountain in Mid-Wales….or at least that’s the idea.All the events will be Live streamed via Periscope.

13th July

Prior to the event within 24 hrs of start of the Show. It is John Clare’s birthday (1793) and I will be reading  some of his poems about enclosure. The town of Banbury, here,  borders Northamptonshire where Clare lived and wrote.

I also plan to re-install Ordnance Survey  and read from the Wikipedia texts in the piece.

14th July  

The  Public View, at the summit of Crouch Hill, will take place simultaneously with the Private View at Camberwell.

I intend to perform a symbolic ritual of exchange of a Covenant of Salt. I will give visitors small hessian bags, hand made by an upholsterer in Poole, Dorset, from re-cycled hessian. The bags will contain salt. people will be asked to mix salt from their bag with salt in someone else’s. The grains can never be separated…..and so, a lasting bond is formed. This has some origins in Biblical Scriptures  but this is not why I have chosen it. It is also performed at weddings. The significance is the prescience of the old Salt Route, The Salt Way, which runs along side Crouch Hill and was used to transport salt from Droitwich to London. I feel it links up with many of the ancient salt routes which network across Europe and Asia in a similar way to networks and systems today.

There will also be Magic Slates which are a playful mimic Freud’s Mystic Writing Pads.

 

I will take the wooden buildings previously used in this events here, as recently, the encroachment of housing development across the boundary to the area, formed by the Salt Way, has been of local concern.

There is also a link to Lefevbre’s thoughts on urbanism. I will also take, as far as possible, all materials, props and remnants that I have used in previous actions and events, for re- mediation/ re- animation  through conversation during the Public View.

The Camberwell College invitations that I have adapted ask people to bring drink ,and their dog if they want. I cannot carry bottles there…but I will prove some refreshments ( and the chocolates)  as in a Potlatch ceremony of exchange or ‘gift’…

Most people ask “What it it rains”….well I will be in my tent… or under the nearby trees in my waterproof.

I may or may not leave my tent up for the duration of the Show as a longer- temporary occupation…….I haven’t made that decision yet.

‘Plan’

15th July :

Reading aloud from John Ruskin’s lecture  Work  delivered at the Working Men’s Institute Camberwell  in 1865,( which I think is now the South London Gallery……..?) to link my location with Camberwell.

16th and 17th July :

Any one, none  or more of these things……depending who is available and when. All are interchangeable.

Paul Mobbs, local Quaker historian and activist telling his history of Crouch Hill and the area.

A Skype chat with Juliet Henderson, the linguist  from Oxford Brookes University, I met on the 205 bus, discussing Derrida  and ‘differance’.

A resident of nearby Broughton Castle and relative of William Fiennes, (1st Viscount Saye and Sele (28 June 1582 – 14 April 1662) , English nobleman and politician during the English Civil War) talking about his knowledge of Crouch Hill.

Me reading aloud from various history books and novels about the area, possibly reading from Benjamin’s Arcades Projects,  or W G Sebold.

A visit from Jane and Richard, caretakers of the Reading Room, Croughton linking this project with my Research Paper.

Snakes and Ladders or Scrabble with a  local theme via Periscope

18th July:

A tribute to Edith  Eisler, who died on this day in 2011. A refugee from Vienna in 1940, musician and friend of my father’s, whose legacy has provided me with the funds to follow this course. Looking at her letters to my father during WWII and listening her play the violin.

Thank You.

19th July Reading the iChing and reading from Philip K Dick’s The Man in the High Castle.

That’s All Folks.

On the 20th July I will visit Camberwell for a Final Crit with the group and then go with Clara Duran to meet other artists for discussion about the wonderful Residency Opportunity in Sortland , Norway……!!!

Analysis of my practice within ‘Live Art’

I’ve been trying to work out where my practice sits within this discipline.

I’m aware of the LADA and TATE Live streams and the general trend to Live Stream performances  from galleries, but this is more to extend the audience the as a part of the work.

I was aware of the Shia Le Boef in a Lift  performance but I have not been aware of other artists Live streaming as part of their practice.

I’ve unfortunately had to make the choice not to visit BA and MA Showsthis year so that I can be sure of completing my own work….so I’m not sure of emerging artists practice in this filed.

I‘ve been concentrating on my own use of the streams a mode of interaction and connection to extend ‘community’, a way of ‘open-source’ sharing and simultaneously creating my work with a  ‘non-art’ happenstance public audience, who become accidental participants and collaborators. I reached a stage where making and reflecting on that became more important than wondering what other people were doing…Possibly not good!

This next step will happen after the completion of the course in my case….

I’ve made a list though of Live Art practitioners whose work has resonances  with mine, but without, as far as I know, the live stream…

One thing that Interactive Periscope Streaming does, by allowing for conversation, is to make the work very affective I feel.

My first Research question was “How can digital technology produce affect?” and I think that the use of Periscope and similar can allows that.

So the list

Lygia Clark for her use of props  to encourage social interaction and the expression of ‘the embodied’ and affective work plus her links with anthropology.

Adrian Howells for his intimacy and sensitivity, in one-to one- performances. Something I could aspire to in some way with `Live stream….?

Ann Hamilton  ( does she count her self as a Live Artist?) for her relationship with site and archive but not ‘theatre’

Bill Drummond and also the very relevant events at Eastside Projects which I,sadly,  haven’t been able to get to…..but hopefully I will  get to Production Show before it finishes.

 Joshua Sofaer for his work with communities.

 Mike Pearson theatre performer and participation related to Archaeology and Tradition

‘folk’ performance.

 Hayley Newman  … maybe just an aspiration…

and maybe some elements of Juneau Projects  thrown in.

So in Summary

I don’t know where I fit in Live Art… if at all….

 

Final Show Preparation 3: Practical stuff

 

Glass- bowls

The glass -bowls are all washed and sparkling, then wrapped in several layers of bubble-wrap, packing materials and in boxes ready to go. A strange combination of my personal ‘identities ‘ were referenced by using these boxes, I realised …. and I forgot to mention the choice of glass rather than ceramic. Glass is an amorphous solid but exhibits an atomic structure close to that observed in a  supercooled liquid phase. I have chosen to work  with glass before as it is both fixed and mutable – appropriate for documentation of an action because of this temporal quality.

Chocolates

I  popped into town to buy the parcel tape and  went to see how Belflair were getting on with the chocolates.

They were all in the shop and Gillian ( below) was busy wrapping them in the foils!

 

Updates:

Wednesday 29th June: I took the glass parcels to Mail Boxes Etc ,  for Marian and Phil Cullen  to send to Wilson Road by courier.

Thursday 30th June: Got back in time to pick up the chocs, all beautifully wrapped, ready for sending tomorrow morning. Gillian was very excited and pleased with the results. So was I. I  gave her some invitations for Belflair to the Public View on Crouch Hill on the Thursday 14th  and took some to Banbury Print, and Marian and Phil at MBE.

 

 

Friday 1st July: 

 

The more things change…..

After choosing not to archive my streams, Periscope now gives the option keep the Scopes for ever!…… I’ve just has a notification when I opened the app.

It’s been coming for some time in different forms, since the demise of Katch…as seen here  using the appropriate #.

But now it’s here automatically …if you want it!

In the meantime here are some of my streams  ..

21st May: I broadcast Louise and I looking through documentation of some of the work I made on Crouch Hill , some 8 years ago. Neighbours and our sons were involved in this work. We shared our memories and I reflected on the work, the space, then and now.

22nd May: I took down the pin-hole cameras and broadcast that process. Brian Little, historian and Elvie the dog, happened to be there at the same time.

29th May: I opened my birthday gifts from Louise on the Hill and shared the experience with the Scopers. There was little Trolling! Just jealous…

31st May : Walt Whitman’s Birthday. I read two Walt Whitman poems, Song of the Universal and To think of Time, from Leaves of Grass. These poems address, `time, Space, ephemerality, rural life and politics with thoughts of simultaneity. It rained very hard and I abandoned the reading because the wet paper disintegrated.

3rd June: Colleague, Jon Shapley, whose work also addresses issues of space, came  up the Hill and we discussed the nature of the space of Crouch Hill. I read from the summaries  key to my Research Paper that  I’d presented for the Research Discussion in February. He used to work in town planning, so I asked him to ‘build’ a new development, as housing is being constructed around the Hill as this project continues. There was some interesting ‘chat’  and lots of interaction as visitors to the summit altered the installation.

 

and its still continuing now… see Twitter Here and Here 

I also made a Vine : I was reading from Bailey’s thoughts on Time Perspectivism whilst Jon built a village.

5th June: I wasn’t intending to Scope but as we reached the summit, I heard people partying. Some people had had a camp-out. The first I’ve seen this year.. It was an unusually warm day. The space changed again

13th May: I broadcast Trace see in this post An inadvertent but significant simultaneity

22nd June: I broadcast For the Heart. I  read from classic texts, Hilda Leyel’s  Herbs for the Heart and Gabrielle Hatfield’s Hatfield Herbal on traditional herbal medicine, regarding the medicinal properties of Hawthorn. I’d intended to do this on May Day, but the May blossom was very late to flower and on the Summer Solstice, I hurt my back and couldn’t really walk at all. This day seemed appropriate to talk about traditional medicines to heal the heart. I broadcast it at 3.30pm, as others were holding a memorial for Jo Cox in Westminster and around the world. This time I was an intentional participant in ‘a simultaneity’, Scoped or not. 

26th June: Visited the Car-Boot sale at the Self-Pick Farm situated at the bottom of Crouch Hill., looking for bowls for the Show. I had several interesting conversations whilst Scoping. Particularly pertinent  was a seller from nearby Chipping Norton greeted by a viewer from Morocco, who marvelled at the tech. and said.. “So why do we need the EU then ” .. with all that tech…One of the sellers, Paul from Stargoat  recognised me from my involvement with publicity for the the Old Town party community in Banbury, some years ago. He played his guitar and chatted about music, David Bowie, walking the Wainwright Way and his home in Nethercote just outside Banbury.He also told a story about the role of his home in the exchange of information about nuclear fission to the Russians in 1948…I feel a project coming on….

From Snapchat to 4chan with some in-between

A Summary of some of the apps and Platforms I’ve looked at during the last 12 months .

• My journey around apps started I guess with a fascination with Snapchat  and watching it in the Reading Room project see this post  last Spring .

My son had introduced me and I loved it… for daft middle-aged not teen reasons! No sharing images of  my body-parts, Thank You! … The trouble was that non- of my contacts joined! No community... One replied to my invitation with ” I’m not on Snapchat but would you like to meet in town for a coffee . “Well we are over 50!

In some ways these events  were key to  the paradox of  living within and between several digital and physical communities which is demonstrated also in my Research Paper. And probably the start of thinking about bringing those together within my process.

• At the end of Unit 1 in October 2015, Jonathan mentioned Storify, story-telling platform, in a tutorial  so I  signed up and started to investigate it. I drafted this post then and have been editing since.

I kept looking at Storify and trying to fit what I wanted into it…..It is great for  adding content from social media but I did have some problems with the Search trying to find exactly what I wanted.

That’s pretty hard call even when just using a browser as I wanted such specific times and dates and of course had to consider Time differences in location of the event and also on the platform. Twitter time does not equal UK time for instance! The problem can be sorted by altering the settings within the browsers but I couldn’t seem to get the specificity I needed with Storify. I’m sure I could’ve done it a ‘long way round’ and imported the content as images ? but I didn’t feel the other all rest would produce what I wanted in the end, so I abandoned it…There for future reference though….

The  main problem though was that it still produces too linear a narrative.… although more recently for an Upgrade there is livefyre which may be worth investigating. At the time of I was investigating there was no Free Trial, otherwise I may have gone down that route! There are others and others!!! all with different emphases on image, text etc…..

 Later on I decided I  wanted to be able to include live feed from Periscope on  a storytelling platform….. I might have been able to do that  by using Katch but then that disappeared ( see below)

• I had already spent some time looking at other simpler platforms for documenting the narrative of my process. Some image hosting sites I knew already…Pinterest, Flikr and have dipped into in the past. I set up Instagram and Imgur account to investigate further. The latter on my son’s recommendation because I had been thinking of posting on Reddit, when searching for synchronous events to document along side my actions  to demonstrate simultaneity  as in these described in   Protected: Same time, different places  and here

 described fully in Notes for Research Discussion Thursday 11th February 2016

• I looked at a range of news sites on Youtube and also Buzzfeed, Huff Post and others.I’d also been directed to and ‘warned’ about ( my sons assume I need protection – they are possibly correct)  the content of 4chan and used some content for the video clips made in   Final Cut – these short pieces which became  works in themselves.

I was still desperately trying to make something non- linear within the constraints of the linear.There’s a long and rambling post where I discuss ( with my self) the vary aspects of that and how film- makers approach the problem.

I eventually stopped trying to tell the story of simultaneity and demonstrate it simply through the action.

• But on my way I’ve been having ( and continue to have ) fun, playing with Vine here and Anthropology – ritual and space on Vine
• Using Periscope as  medium of making and showing my work has evolved during my process. The app has developed and continued. The best way to find to what’s available is to watch and interact with other Broadcasts. I did a lot of that at the beginning but recently have limited myself to Broadcasts only. I may have missed out on some updates but didn’t want to get distracted by the app. Just work within the constrains of it, as it was in May. The full functionality depends on having a decent phone so things have improved since upgrading to 8GB iPhone SE. Just after I’d started to use Periscope, this happened:

Scope Day  Originally on November 7, 2015, 56 broadcasters in 37 cities on 6 continents showcased destinations in their respective cities/countries over the course of 16 hours, a sort of simultaneity demonstration. In December 2015 Issac Duckett, the CEO of SCL Brands / Slickchix has acquired the rights to Scope Day.

• I have used, with varying degrees of success, YouTubeLive and  Google hangouts but rather stupidly deleted the evidence of attempted and successful Trials from my YouTube Channel when tidying up! but Here is one from YouTube below  and one here which was successful on Google Hangouts

is one remaining failure!

I downloaded the encoding software onto my old laptop necessary for YouTube Live stream  and managed a successful stream from my living room but then next time  I couldn’t even access Youtube because the OS no longer supports the updated version… I tried my son’s Chrome book and again had some success but I wanted to broadcast from the Hill where there is no Wi-Fi and using my phone as a Hot-Spot didn’t work for streaming, certainly not with the phone I’d got at the time.The Chrome book had 4G but  still didn’t work. Periscope is just So Easy in comparison.

From an audience point of view it allows anyone with the app to find your stream and watch. The accessibility is so much greater than Youtube where people have to search harder or know her to find you. The Map and List on Periscope make it straightforward and you can search for users using username.

I looked at Lifestream  but it is very corporate, the audience would not be the broad, happen across audience that I was hoping for. I didn’t investigate Snapchat Live.

• Twitter  : All my broadcasts are automatically shared on Twitter. This gives my Twitter Followers even without the Periscope app the chance to see the Broadcasts for 24 hours.

I’ve been using Twitter more now, to share Vines and posts on my MAFAD Blog as well as posting and re-tweeting.So much so that it has become an essential component for my Final Show, as an access point for an audience

• Google Translate: In the early days of using Periscope I had a large number of viewers from Turkey (and Russia) so I used Google translate to view the conversation. I could only do this from Screen recordings though. Here they are below,  rather long, clumsy and unedited; but they  show some of my investigation…

There was some chat about an app for simultaneous translation whilst broadcasting, but I couldn’t find it….

and

• I was interested in the work of Blast Theory especially after the  Participation session with Jonathan and downloaded  Karen app, which was fun.
• Katch was an app which saved automatically all Periscope streams WITH Comments and hearts  but it closed at the beginning of May. It was useful when I found it and the results of the archived content can be seen in several posts below

Lewis Carroll, Time and Philosophy   

Egg Rolling: Easter Day 

Games without frontiers?

Questioning the i Ching- games without frontiers continued,

All the other broadcasts  were saved to Katch from early March until the end April and I archived them from Katch to this Youtube  playlist Here. The comments (on an Excel spreadsheet), stats and video files were downloaded to my Desktop. It wasn’t available for the St George’s Day work, so this was screen- recorded on the Desktop.

I looked at lots of other Video and screen saving apps available on my 4S but non- worked well and kept to screen recording from the Desktop which if accessed using Chrome as a browser shows the hearts and comments on the replay

• i Ching: I played around with this app as I aim to use the iChing in an action during the Final Show…possibly using the app…I’d used cards already see above 
• Geocache: I’ve played around with too ,see here Protected: Geocache possibilities
• I’ve debated the use of Bit.ly  vs other alternatives  as shortners for Twitter etc.. My son favours Goo.gl but I’ve stuck with Bit.ly so far
• Soundcloud here 
• Clyp as here 
• I investigated Anchor too,”Anchor is radio by the people, where any voice can join the conversation. Anchor makes it easy to broadcast short audio clips to a global audience in seconds. Your listeners can talk back, sparking instant group conversations that were never before possible.”but found it rather dull at the time. Very corporate…Maybe I’ll investigate it when it’s been around a bit longer.

 

Final Show Preparation 2

It was important for me to source the materials for the show as locally  as possible with connections to the specific local communities I work with and for them to link with the themes of my work in the project so far so linking  the various  communities here  with Camberwell.

I’ve been searching out bowls for display of the chocolates. I wanted to get most at the Self-Pick Farm at the bottom of Crouch Hill. They have Car- Boot sales there and I thought that was appropriate as the bowls will have a personal provenance. It’s been so wet that I don’t think the Car-Boots were held. Certainly when I got there everyone had gone home. There were some boxes of crockery, though, which apparently are collected from the ‘left-overs’ from the Car -Boots. Here they are full of water as I found them, and then, the ones I bought packed up at home. I also bought some from charity shops within Banbury’s Old Town. I have worked there for many years and, been an active member of the Old Town Association ,a trade organisation which supports and brings together local  independent traders. It also runs community events which I participate in as a community artist. Buying some of the crockery here links the threads of my practice and communities in which they operate.

The printers, Banbury Print and Design, are a small family-run business, also in the Old Town . They have printed the wrappers for the chocolates, 5 designs, 150 each. This  may be too many but I want to make sure that I have sufficient, not only for Camberwell, but also  to distribute locally as a link of the two communities and networks. There is an image of Banbury Print and Design’s premises below- but Nicola was not keen on having her photo included on the Blog! Funnily  enough I picked these up yesterday, Referendum Day 23rd June 2016, and then bumped into the owners on my way back home from the Polling Station. They were just walking down as a family. A coincidence….

Belflair, the chocolatier, is just across the road and up Church Lane. At the end of Church Lane is Ye Olde Reine Deer Inn, which apparently is where in the 15th century, Puritan Oliver Cromwell held court arranging future battles.

The founder & resident chocolatier, of Belflair  learnt his craft at chocolate / patisserie school in Brussels  and Antwerp.

I was concerned about selecting the most appropriate foils for the different designs, again that difficulty with the idea of branding. I’d decided to have one colour of foil for each image, 5 in all. Merv, (see below in the shop)  who also runs the business, showed me a selection and chose the ones she thought worked best. They all looked so good that I didn’t want to change anything!

Each glistening order served as a mount would to a picture, highlighting the images, as you can see. The idea of the ‘exhibition’ of the image was still there. Apparently I’m in good company as Belflair chocolates are used as promotions for several central London hotels. Merv was excited by the images. To her they looked essential English, ( or did she say British?…..)

Merv is from Finland, and the images made her think of British weather ( the umbrella) , family camping holidays ( tent) and the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme and also Glastonbury festival as that has just started. All those things coalescing together in just one short conversation. She then told me a story about how camping isn’t popular in Finland and why she thinks this is the case.

The chocolates are being made especially to order in their chocolate atelier in nearby Brackley! They should be ready by the end of next week.

I asked her to recommend a reliable local courier to get them to Peckham. They are just round the corner…

Selecting Images

Just a short post to explain my reasons for selecting the images above for the chocolate wrappers.

I was going to select just a single image but had several printed, mainly to see which looked best on the tiny wrappers.It is impossible to visualise how powerful, or not, an image will be at this size and how it will be read. Logos are different because of their graphic clarity, but this sort of image was so small on the original wrappers that they were not legible at all. Turning the wrappers round and changing the usual layout made a huge difference., though they are still very small, 33 x 40mm for the images. The wrappers themselves are 40 x 78mm but have to include the ingredients inc: allergens and a link to my periscope stream ( I’ve not put this on the front and it is too long and my stream can be accessed via Twitter anyway.) Once I’d altered the image position I also had space to credit the people whose images I used...none of them were ‘my ‘images, although I did ‘take’ the solar grams…by positioning the cameras, I guess.

I showed the proofs to several people with varying interest in ‘art’ or visual material. I asked them to pick up the images that ‘drew them in’ in order of choice. I’ve done this before when having exhibition postcards printed, but this time there was no common choice. In fact every image was chosen the same number of times as a first choice…. So I decided to have 100 each of all the images. Together they produce a narrative showing the  location, something of my process, the link with geographical space with the Trig point, social space with the tea-pot, and time passing with the solar gram.

I realise that will not necessarily be how they are read,but there are linking  objects  within each….from trig point to tent to teapot etc . This provides and exciting way to exhibit a non- linear fragmented narrative of documentation of an action. Just what I’ve been searching for and generate a conversation which re-animates the original action in a different form.

I really do feel though, that I have to give credit to Felix Gonzales-Torres, as the display of sweets and their consumption is not an original idea.… his work  below) has a more simple and poignant  conceit.

Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A.) (1991) by Felix Gonzalez-Torres at the Met Breuer. Photo by @julianasteiner