Forma - LP -Updates

Had a really good meeting with David Metcalfe and Caroline Smith from Forma yesterday. Landscape-Portrait has been engaged in a form of touring for the last seven years and we all agreed it was now time to move it to phase 3. Phase 3 involves making the data usable in other formats. This is closely linked to initiatives around Open Data. It is also perhaps concerned less with the liberal idea of 'openness' which dominated the talks at the recent conference in Berlin, but rather a concern to the methodologies used to create the data, the notion of a public art work as an engine which animates this process and a concept of the outcome of such as project as a component in a larger network; which neatly creates a tension between artwork and resource. There is also a wider issue of the semantic web, and how the video data recorded by LP might be made 'intelligible' via a robust mark up, how do you mark up video for use in Open Data projects. We talked about funding to create this next phase of the project, looking at academic, commercial and civic funds. Be interesting how this develops in the current funding crisis.

Cornmarket Plaz Commission, Dublin 2010

On a more upbeat note I have just got back from Dublin, where I along with civic architects and curator Andrew Chetty, were shortlisted for a commission. The location of the commission, on a triangular public space in Dublin is incredibly demanding site, as it is bordered on all sides by traffic.Our proposal incorporated a community engagement strategy, partnered by Create Dublin and the Digital Hub, an architectural intervention designed by civic:


and a curatorial programme put together with partners; Forma, Transmediale (Germany), Forma Arts & Media (UK), Sonar (Spain), Radar (Mexico) and DoDig (Turkey).

We will see what happens, but either way its interesting what they decide to do as Dublin has been hit hard by the financial downturn, and the role of a public art commission such as this, is very contentious. It would be my plan to interview the council arts officer about the project as part of my PHD.