Glittermouse Visual Arts

Blacked Out is now over and out, with documentary footage and photographs to be found here . Unfortunately I have been made aware that some technical difficulties and flooding (!) during the week may have impacted upon the displays, so many apologies to those of you who may have made it along to find less than you expected.

Additionally, I heard confirmation today that I shall be participating in Alternative Party 2010 in October; further developments in interaction and a new incarnation in This Belongs To are planned; more updates soon so watch this space!

  It’s been a while since any updates at Glittermouse.co.uk as for the duration of the TINT Arts Lab residency all developments to current projects were published here. The final post on July 19th detailed progress made to electronic experiments with the This Belongs To project as well as further realisations of interaction with relation to the installation work. The speed of these developments has slowed down somewhat over the summer months, however they are still very much in progress and the next opportunity to display any of this publically will be at Blacked Out, a group show in London in which nine artists explore light in a blacked out space under a railway arch near London Bridge. It will be the first time that the use of Arduino to generate interactive projections will be realised in this work outside a studio setting. Given the analogue nature of the sensors being used, it is hard to predict how effectively the installation will run until actually set up in the space, however, anxieties aside, it’s certainly working well enough in tests to be an exciting if mildly daunting prospect. Without revealing too much of the actual work, which is still broadly concentrating on issues relating to public ownership in cities, here’s a quick visual update of circuitry, partially built housing and code in a test set up... If you want to see more you’ll have to head along to Blacked Out! The exhibition runs from the 21st to the 28th of August with a private viewing from 6.30 – 9.30 on the 19th. Do come along if you’re London based, the evening event includes refreshments and the return of Ne7 (Andrew Lemon) who worked on the sound for Marking the Territory; he’ll be providing live audio on homemade, hacked and circuit bent instruments.

  Last weekend peaked at a new high of ‘being busy’ even for the constant missions of Glittermouse.  Saturday the 27th of March saw the return of Chorlton’s Big Green Festival, the second year this has been hosted by Green Chorlton. Recent reports suggest approximately 6000 people visited the event which aims to promote sustainable living in an accessible fashion. A workshop based revival of the recycled crafts certainly fitted in with that agenda, albeit with a decidedly urban twist. Participants were invited to create a local souvenir using images they had sourced of their areas that meant something to them. From road signs to lampposts, various images came together to generate craft outcomes using glass painting techniques and salvaged objects. Green Festival visitors of all ages enjoyed learning basic art and design theory as well as practising their new skills. You can see more images from the day here.

As if that wasn’t enough for one weekend, A return to Norvun Sunday at The Roadhouse was the first opportunity to publically showcase all the recent 3D developments involving laser etching and multiple projections. With a set up using two slide projectors and one data projector, multiple visual sources including photos, vector graphics, pixel and digital video brought the etched surface of the new object to life. This provided an interactive opportunity for traditional drawing techniques in much the same vein as the previous 2D installations, however the inclusion of multiple projection and the response to 3D space lent an additional freedom to the piece where the contrast between static and moving image could be much more thoroughly referenced. Focusing on the use of images including environmental text, this installation provided an exciting opportunity to warm-up for and gains an insight into the forthcoming work at Marking the Territory – the first full 3D installation of the work at The Link Gallery from April 14th.

In addition to the installation work, a new public urban interactivity project has just been launched. This Belongs To invites participants to share moments of Urban Ownership by using laser cut cards to project their name (or other identifying mark) directly onto the urban environment.  Best experienced when it’s sunny, the cards do still provide opportunities to Mark your Territory on duller days and even potentially at night. Check out further details of the project and request your own card here. All you have to do is write on it and go out to make stuff yours (not forgetting to upload a photo or two of course!).

  The pace quickens still further this weekend with a return (for the last time sadly) to Breakpoint in Bingen, Germany. I haven’t quite decided if I have an entry or not... It might be leaving it a bit late...and in case you thought it had been forgotten, here’s the latest update in the (slow) progress on the St Peter’s Square commission. Hmmm... Now there’s an idea...

Updates this week include the good news that GBP is now the main currency in the Glittermouse shop! It’s been a long time coming but it’s finally possible to make purchases of craft items and from the recent series of digital prints without having to convert to USD and back again!
In terms of practical developments in the art work, you can now see a newly updated image of the St Peters Square commission (below)...

... and a video of the most recent experiments with digital video on laser etched objects on the Mouse in Progress page here, however the most exciting news comes in the form of a newly confirmed installation event for April!

Marking The Territory will be a visual and audio installation exploring cities and the sounds and artefacts found within them. Drawing on the writings of Michel De Certeau and Marc Auge to tell stories of Place and Space, a contrast between moving image and static drawing will aim to describe the duality of transience and permanence in urban settings. The work will aim to illustrate human interaction with city spaces and question issues around public ownership.  Situated at the Link Gallery in the Manchester Metropolitan University Chatham Building, the Installation will be open to the public from April 14th – 19th during the following times:

Live Installation Creation:
April 14th - 16th 9.30am - 4pm

Exhibition of Completed Installation:
April 19th 9.30am - 5pm

Private View Closing Event:
With Live Audio Mixing by Ne7
April 19th 5pm - 7pm

Don’t forget to head down to The Roadhouse tonight too (if you’re Manchester based)  for the February excitement that is Norvun Sunday; Live music, arts and hot toasted bread products, how could Sunday get any better?

This week saw some exciting test outcomes in a couple of new areas relating to the development of the installation work. Firstly I received back my transparencies. I haven’t used these since I was doing my undergrad and they were starting to become outdated even then.  I’ve decided to start experimenting with using slides alongside digital projection not only to give me a bit more flexibility with the number of projections I can use simultaneously but also as it does have a different quality which seemed worthy of exploration. As I am still working primarily with digital images, the first challenge was finding a way of ‘devolving’ the technology back a step, but that done I’ve been able to start using them in some preliminary tests this week. The resulting projection does not have the same digital signature in the visible pixel like grid which covers the image yet is still derived from a digital process.

 The most exciting update of the week however, is the outcomes of the laser etching which I picked up on Friday. You can now see images of these combined with the slide projection here. Continuing the experimentation in combining new and traditional media, the laser despite being a digital method of interacting with the surface, results in a very direct outcome, physically burning the surface of the material. The resulting texture and degradation still retains traces of the digital in the rows of dots that remain from the points of the laser, yet the burnt and ashy nature of the surface is still rooted in traditional methods and techniques.  

Last thing: check out the new Noise Lab space in Manchester - lots of interesting work going on there!
 
Until next time... Stay productive...!

So, this is the first post to the new blog on the new site! I decided it was time for a bit of an overhaul for a few reasons... Firstly, the tool I use to build and manage this site has had quite a few useful updates since I first got the site live over a year ago and I couldn’t make the most of those with a lot of those old settings. I also needed to update a lot of the content to reflect my changing focuses in terms of areas of practice and it seemed an appropriate time of year to not only update but refresh, renew and relaunch! So here it is! If you’re reading this blog imported or in a feed, please come and visit the new site here: www.glittermouse.co.uk . Should you want to, you can still access my archived blog at www.glittermousearchive.weebly.com but all news and updates will be continue to be published at glittermouse.co.uk.
 
One of the new areas of my current work relating to the installation pieces involves a closer look at the theories and concepts which inform the outcomes. As such I recently gathered thoughts relating to individual relationships with cities and urban environments in a survey. The results were very useful and I have started looking at issues relating to public ownership. In order to focus these ideas and prove/disprove one or two embryonic theories I have composed a new survey which builds on the questions of the old one. To celebrate the launch of the new site (and to encourage survey dodgers to get clicking!) I am giving away a free limited edition digital print to the first ten people who complete the survey. I only published the survey a few hours ago (as I am writing this) and the response has been good – but you are still in with a chance of a free print if you’re interested. You can visit and complete the survey at www.glittermouse.co.uk/survey.html

The installation work is still developing along the 3D route and following the Christmas break I am now continuing to pushing it even further. I’m due to be doing some tests with the laser cutter this week and am hoping to start using transparencies as well as data projection in the work. There will be further updates on all that soon and I’m currently seeking out the next opportunity to get the work out in a live context so hopefully I’ll be announcing a new date within the next few weeks.

In addition to the 3D work, I have made a bit more progress with the production of the canvases produced from the digital City Poems Series. This isn’t really a major focal point at the moment, more something ticking along in the background but it’s good to keep working on things, even if it is sporadic. I’m still working on the commissioned canvas too but that’s going to take a while even with consistent efforts – it’s a big canvas!

That’s all for now but you can see all the work in progress at www.glittermouse.co.uk/mouse-in-progress.html where I will keep updating as regularly as possible!