[Leonardo/ISAST Network] Locative Media Art discussion on YASMIN, December 2007

[Leonardo/ISAST]

Dear Leonardo Colleagues,

Leonardo/OLATS is pleased to announce:

A moderated discussion on the subject of Locative Media Art will take 
place on the YASMIN discussion list from the 3rd of December 2007 onwards.

Below is a text with more info on the particular discussion. We are very 
much looking forward to your participation and involvement.

To join YASMIN visit:

http://www.media.uoa.gr/yasmin/

Best wishes,
Dimitris Charitos
Lecturer, Department of Communication and Media Studies
University of Athens

Locative Media Art: towards new types of "hybrid" places for 
communicating meaning

The convergence of new mobile telecommunication networks along with 
geographical positioning systems and interactive graphical interfaces on 
mobile devices, are beginning to extend the potential of media 
technologies for supporting communication among mobile individuals. The 
aforementioned technologies allow groups of people to interact with each 
other, while being aware of each other's location at all times. By 
introducing context awareness and by supporting multi-user 
communication, these ICT systems alter the patterns of information flow 
as well as the situation within which communication takes place, thus 
bringing to light new spatial structures where social interaction will 
occur and novel forms of cultural practices will emerge.

Locative media are systems of technologically mediated interpersonal and 
group communication. Such mobile wireless technologies provide the 
opportunity to augment traditional urban environments with information 
and communication spatial experiences, which can be accessed through 
mobile or desktop devices. The main characteristics of locative media 
are mobility, locativeness and multi-user support. The characteristic of 
"locativeness", in particular, may refer to both users and content 
within a locative media group or activity. These characteristics above 
may influence interpersonal as well as intergroup relationships in the 
context of these new social constructions.

Computer-mediated communication via the Internet has allowed physical 
meeting places to "immigrate" to a "virtual" spatial context, as in the 
case of MUDs or MOOs. The introduction of mobile location-based 
communication networks relates again the concept of a "meeting place" to 
the physical space of an urban environment. It re-introduces the 
parameter of geographical location in the activity of computer-mediated 
communication, thus mapping the "virtual" mental space where 
communication occurs to the physical space, inhabited by the material 
bodies of communicating participants. Thus, the virtual spatial context 
of such an activity is mapped onto the physical world and the resulting 
hybrid spatial context becomes the arena of this activity.  Most 
importantly, such a communication system affords the possibility of 
face-to-face interaction and brings back the "compulsion of proximity" 
into computer-mediated communication. Locative media have already been 
used by many artists as media for creating activities, performances, 
dynamic works or "net-works" of a database or narrative structure and 
other complex types of artistic intervention.

The discussion that will take place in the YASMIN forum will aim to 
investigate these novel artistic forms from a social and cultural 
perspective and will attempt to provide answers to a series of 
questions, some of which follow:

. "Where" is a locative media artwork? How does a spectator/visitor 
experience such an activity or system as a spatial context within which 
interaction occurs and symbolic content is communicated?
. Can the use of locative media by artists be considered as an 
"aestheticisation" of these high-end ICT systems' use and even as an 
"excuse" for the rapid expansion of surveillance technologies?
. Could we attempt a categorization of Locative Media artworks and 
related activities created so far?
. Does experimenting with these advanced forms of ICTs turn the focus of 
attention to the technological media per se and much less on the 
symbolic content communicated?
. How may these types of artworks or activities alter our understanding 
of the concepts of representation and narrative?
. How do locative media activities influence the dynamics of social 
interaction in real time and space? How can they affect our patterns of 
communication and our social behaviors in the long term?
. From a design perspective, how can we create locative media art and 
activities that are more intertwined with the fabric of our everyday life?

The discussion will will take place in the YASMIN forum from Monday the 
3rd of December onwards and will be moderated by Dimitris Charitos along 
with Prof. Martin Rieser and Dr. Yanna Vogiazou as respondents. Below 
are short CVs of this discussion's moderators:

Dr. Dimitrios Charitos (vedesign at otenet.gr <mailto:vedesign at otenet.gr>) 
is a lecturer at the Faculty of Communication and Media Studies of the 
University of Athens. He teaches "Human-Computer Communication", "Art & 
Technology", "Visual Communication", "Digital Communication 
Environments". He has studied Architectural Design (National Technical 
University of Athens, 1990) Computer Aided Design and has a PhD on 
Interactive Design and Virtual Environments (University of Strathclyde, 
1998). He has taught at an undergraduate and postgraduate level since 
1994 in Scotland and Greece (Department of Informatics, University of 
Athens and Dept of Architecture, National Technical University of 
Athens). He has authored or co-authored more than 50 publications in 
books, journals or conference proceedings. His artistic work involves 
electronic music, audiovisual, non-interactive or interactive, 
site-specific installations and virtual environments.

Professor M. Rieser is a Media Artist and Theorist based in Bristol. 
Professor of Digital Creativity at De Montfort University. 2000-7 
Professor of Digital Arts and Senior Teaching Fellow Bath Spa 
University, was Principal Lecturer in Digital Media at Napier University 
in Edinburgh at the Department of Photography, Film, and Television 
1997-2000, and in post as Senior Lecturer in Electronic Media at UWE 
Bristol between 1986 -- 1998. He set up one of the first post-graduate 
courses in the country in Digital Art and Imaging at the City of London 
Polytechnic, now the London Guildhall University 1980-85. His teaching 
and practice centres on new types of interactive art which use 
non-linear narrative in new media through Locative, interactive 
installations, networked art projects and collaborations with 
architects. He has acted as consultant to bodies such as Cardiff Bay 
Arts Trust, NESTA, Arkive, AHRC the Photographers Gallery London. 
External Examiner at UIAH Helsinki, St Martins University of the Arts 
and Glamorgan University Professor of Digital Ats at Bath Spa University 
2000-2007. He recently edited: New Screen Media: Cinema/Art/Narrative 
(BFI/ZKM, 2002)- which combined a DVD of current research and practice 
in this area together with critical essays . He was on AHRB research 
leave during 2004-5 creating a new locative work for Bath Abbey called 
Hosts 2006, which used mobile and positional technologies combined with 
interactive sound and video and has just authored a book on Locative 
Media Arts called The Mobile Audience shortly to be published by Rodopi 
Commisions and Residencies include: 2007 La Trobe University Melbourne, 
2006 Invideo Milan, 1997 Watershed/Cambridge Darkroom, which involved 
constructing a self-curating web site and multimedia piece called 
Screening the Virus, based around publicly submitted artwork on HIV/Aids 
related themes. This was later short listed for a Wellcome Trust Sci-Art 
award. He also directed the Media Myth and Mania section of the joint 
Watershed/Artec exhibition and CD publication From Silver to Silicon. 
The latter piece was shown at many venues around the world including 
Milia in Cannes; Paris; ICA and the Photographer's Gallery, London and 
at ISEA Montreal. Other visual research projects included the direction 
of a collaboration involving five other artists (collectively known as 
Ship of Fools) using the subject of mythologies to explore the full 
range of narrative and visual interfaces in interactive media in a piece 
called Labyrinth 1996. This work involved drama, digital image, virtual 
environments, and interactive video at F-Stop Gallery in Bath and as 
part of the Cheltenham Literary Festival. It has been previewed at a 
number of venues including the Oberhausen Short Film festival in Germany 
and at ISEA in Montreal. In 2001 his research project Triple Echo won an 
AHRB award and involves a three-screen interactive video depicting a 
love triangle based on the Orpheus legends.

Dr. Yanna Vogiazou (yanna.vogiazou at t-mobile.net 
<mailto:yanna.vogiazou at t-mobile.net>) is an Interaction Designer at 
T-Mobile International, specializing in user experience and 
cross-platform media convergence. Until recently Yanna was a lecturer in 
Interaction Design, Programme Leader and Course Tutor for BA/BSc 
Computing & Interaction Design at the Department of Design, Goldsmiths, 
University of London. She has a PhD from the Knowledge Media Institute, 
Open University, UK. Yanna practices a range of research methods and 
creative processes for the design of innovative interactive products, 
from user-centered design workshops to concept development and prototype 
evaluation. Her academic research focused on the social applications of 
new media and on the process of design for emergence, exploring group 
interactions and social behaviors that can emerge through unpredictable 
uses of technology and how these feed back into the design process. In 
the context of her PhD research, she collaborated with Hewlett Packard 
Laboratories in Bristol, UK for the design and development of a 
wireless, location-based multiplayer game. Yanna has published in books, 
Journals and international conferences. Her PhD thesis has been 
published as a book by Ios Press, titled 'Design for Emergence'. She 
holds an MA in Interactive Media from the University of Westminster, 
London, UK (2001) and a BA (Hons) in Communication and Media from 
Panteion University of Athens, Greece (2000).

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