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!

Following a successful private view on the 19th, Blacked Out is now open from 13.30 – 18.30 daily until the 28th of August at Arch 897 in Central London, just 5 minutes walk from London Bridge station.

My own contribution takes the form of two interactive projections of changing images which viewers can stop by interrupting the projection and allowing a shadow to fall on to an analogue light sensor. This aims to encourage exploration of physical relationships to space and a reflection upon the dialogue between the images; cityscapes, buildings, signs, statements and the impositions and implications that these affect upon public relationships with the urban environment. The interactive elements are controlled using an Arduino with each projection using pixel, vector and photographic imagery. Source images are from in and around the Manchester/Salford area and include references to compulsorily purchased housing, assertions of private land and interventions in the form of graffiti and stickering.

Other artists exhibiting include Sally Butcher, Avril Elward, Jennifer Hankin, Lisa Metherell and Kaidie Nondon and full details of all the work and the location of the venue can be found at www.blackedoutexhibition.com. Video from the Private View will follow shortly, until then more photos can be found here.

Additionally this week I have just received my copy of Alt Mag 2010, the magazine which accompanies Alternative Party. I have contributed an article which discusses in more detail many of the background issues and research which relates to the installation work.

  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.

I have just added an updated post to the Arts Lab - I've not been able to import the posts but you can follow this link to see the latest on the project...!

The TINT Arts Lab is now live with a range of participants working in the field of Media Arts.  Check out the Development Proposal for This Belongs To and imminent updates here

Following hand in for the written elements of Stage One of the MA on Thursday, I’m feeling I can finally get on with the ‘next step’ in development from Marking the Territory. This is despite the fact that I do still have a presentation to give for that work, but... that’s a week and a half away!

Interaction has been a recurring theme in recent work, both conceptually and physically and it seems there are two directions this is taking within current practice; interaction of the viewer with environment and/or the work and interaction with others in terms of critical reflection and feedback. The input of others is an important factor in the development of any creative outcome and this is especially true when working in an area in which one has little experience. I was therefore delighted to be invited to participate in the TINT Arts Lab residency at the end of last week. The Arts Lab is inviting several artists or artists groups to participate in parallel at its online residency program where it aims to provide a platform for artists to present and develop ideas through critical feedback and open discourse. The project I have proposed is a development of This Belongs To and you’ll find lots more all about that here soon! This is a really exciting opportunity to share current research with a new community and will certainly complement the MA as well as hopefully enhancing the outcome.

The physical development of interactive objects and environments has been following an additional strand this weekend at Space Studios in Hackney where I attended an Arduino workshop. Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform which runs its own code and is used by artists, hackers and hobbyists to create interactive objects and environments.

With next to no experience in code or electronics it was straight in at the deep end, never-the-less I was able to get some basic functionality out of simple sensors and actuators and the weekend culminated in a personal project where I realised a basic interactive projection using a light sensor and some Processing code to flip between two images depending on whether or not a shadow was cast onto the projection. Following Marking the Territory, it doesn’t take a huge leap of imagination to work out how I could use *that* set up!

There’s been lots of reading to do too to develop the conceptual side of this work and not go off into too much of a happy practical tangent (lovely as that would be). I’ve been looking into Urban Planning to contextualise the ideas relating to public ownership and have recently been reading Ground Control (2009) by Anna Minton. I would highly recommend Minton’s accessible coverage of very important and deeply worrying details of current trends in urban management including the removal of rights of way in city centres. Do have a read...

I’m also keeping an eye on RepRap after finding out about it last week... interesting...

Until next time, keep an eye on the TINT Arts Lab... and I’ll be sticking some video of the Arduino workshop up just as soon as I’ve had the chance to edit it!

It’s been over a month since Marking the Territory and nearly that since my last update but it’s not been an uneventful few weeks! My main focus for that time has been essay writing – the first submission date for the MA is tomorrow, when I shall hand in three written pieces and my proposal for the next stage of study. That'll all be published here after assessment. Assuming I don't fail. Moving on from the installation at the Link Gallery, I’ve got lots of exciting ideas for the future of the work – but not much to go on yet in terms of how I’m going to realise them! Hopefully the journey to get there will be every bit as productive as recent months… but I’ve got a lot of research to do!
Work is continuing to concern itself with issues of public ownership and this is now leading deeper into looking at things like urban planning, purchase led regeneration and the impact of corporations and shopping centers on inner city spaces; quite a lot of reading due there! On Friday, I participated in a series of conversations organized by Manchester Creative Collective working as part of the Manchester Beacon for Public Engagement. The conversations took place in a converted shipping container in Piccadilly Gardens during the Architecture and Design Festival.  It was a mixed panel with artists, writers and community workers and we discussed how urban planning and regeneration is impacting upon creativity in Manchester and the surrounding areas. Displays of related artwork were also available for public viewing including the documentary video of Marking the Territory.
Last weekend also saw the final Norvun Sunday until September and one of the laser etched objects from Marking the Territory had an additional airing. It was interesting to see it in a space as an object, rather than part of an installation and using only slide projectors, I really appreciated the value that moving image brings to the pieces.
This weekend (after handing in the written work!) I shall be jumping on a train and heading down to Space Studios in Hackney where I shall be participating in an Arduino workshop… and that should give you an idea of what direction future work might be heading in… but I’ll say no more for now…
Watch this space!

Last week, Marking the Territory, the first fully 3D multimedia drawing installation, ran successfully at The Link Gallery in Manchester. Combining projected digital video, photographic, vector and pixel graphics with analogue slide projection the work included specially composed music by Ne7 with real world samples by Glittermouse. The installation aimed to explore issues relating to place, space and public ownership and the images and sounds used referenced ways in which we are both directed through space and choose to claim it for ourselves. The closing event  on the 19th was well attended and featured live audio mixing by Ne7 using a range of homemade electronic audio tools as featured in the May edition of Future Music Magazine. Following this installation, the next live event will be at The Roadhouse on the16th of May, the last Norvun Sunday before September as it takes a well earned break for the Summer.  

It's been a hectic couple of months and following all the preparations, workshops and installations in March, April kicked off with a trip to Breakpoint 2010 and a modification to the digital sketch for Saint Peters Square (see below - image shown on the big screen) which finished 6th in the Freestyle Graphics Compo. Not entirely sure about that result, I'm fairly confident it should have placed higher but then public voting is a funny old game and not to be a bad sport, congrats to all those who placed 1st to 5th. 

Regardless of all that, mid April is finally here and it brings with it the opening of Marking the Territory, tomorrow at MMU's Link Gallery. The last two days have been spent finalising work, painting plinths and installing equipment so I shall finally be ready to start the drawing tomorrow morning at 9am. Also on display are six new digital prints as a follow up to the City Poems Series and the newly completed painting Saint Peters Square (acrylic on canvas with a distinctly digital flavour!) which can be found in the Interactive Arts Foyer attached to the Link Gallery. Preview image below but you will have to come along to the gallery to see the actual installation for now! Live installation is open April 14th, 15th and 16th from 09.30 - 4pm and all day on Monday 19th with a special evening event from 5 - 7pm. Hope to see you there!

  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...