I wrote a new piece ov fiction drawing a comparison between the evolution of clock mechanisms and the workings of the Law. It has been published and beautifully illustrated in an excellent new e-Zine from my long-time collaborators – Mercy – read it here: I am a Watchmaker
Writing a fictional narrative was a completely new departure for me and was actually really helpful for working thru aspects of my current understanding. To quote the Watchmaker:
‘Seeking Law in the relentless stutter of parliamentary acts and decrees is like searching for Time in the mechanism of a clock.’
Developing my MMME project proposal – I’m wondering what kinds of information and experience are specific to this site and cannot be found elsewhere? What aspects are important, yet hidden, and need to be interpreted for the visitor?
In past times, fortifications and great walls stood as visible public testimony to the need for constant vigilance against enemy attack. Newcastle’s Black Gate and Castle Keep have, throughout history, been the site of various sieges and, notably, two of these took place during construction works whilst the guard was down. The Cathedral has also played a strategic role, employing human shields to defend the city:
Tradition has it that during the siege of Newcastle in 1644, when the Scots army, under the Earl of Leven, threatened to blow up the church with a cannon, the Major, Sir John Marley, put his Scottish prisoners in the lantern tower and thus saved it from destruction.
Local political stability is these days more secure, and the ‘New-Castle’, like all technology it seems, has fallen into obsolescence, to be regarded with nostalgia. Any message of ‘constant vigilance’ is much better conveyed today ‘virally’ through news headlines and train station announcements, so I ask myself: “What NOW is an appropriate use of this kind of ‘public realm’?”
For the piece ‘War Veteran Vehicle,’ Krzysztof Wodiczko transformed a military Land Rover, replacing what would normally be an onboard weaponry system (missile launcher, radar device etc.) with his high powered ‘projection battlestation’ – a video projector and public address system which visually and acoustically blasted words and voices of traumatised soldiers against the blind and deaf walls of the city “…as if a continuation of war.”
Wodiczko worked with UK servicemen and women and their families, recording discussions about the experience after returning from a warzone. He described this process as very difficult, partly because overwhelming experiences can prevent people from speaking easily, but also, because the M.O.D. were unsupportive. One of the veterans, Rob , talked about his own internal self-censorship – “something that the army puts into you (like a chip) which dictates “you can’t say this” and “you can’t say that.”
Soldiers today are trained like machines to relish the battle – however, the training does not extend to ‘un-training’ and a return to civilian life. Soldiers are trained to control their emotion (‘opening up’ is a sign of weakness) but every so often one of these machines goes wrong: former soldiers make up nearly one-tenth of the UK prison population.*
“the city speaks in what it says and in what it does not say” – Wodiczko
Aggressively situating these citizen testimonies in public space is an attempt to break through the wall of silence. Wodiczko explained that the action must be aggressive since we are already relentlessly bombarded by advertising, information and news – resulting in our typical symptom of public experience: ‘numbness.’
The ‘War Veteran Vehicle’ speaks loudly and eloquently on behalf of those who cannot speak, and suggests an alternative democratic role for our public space: “the city as mouthpiece for the people”. Wodiczko located his work in a historic trajectory, citing an obscure ancient Greek term – parasia – meaning “a special right of free, frank and open, fearless speaking in public space.” This notion encapsulates an obligation and duty to critique authority, denounce what is wrong and shake up public consciousness. The “War Veteran Vehicle” acts as ‘parasiasta’ – bringing to shoppers and heritage visitors voices returned from the far and distant conflicts which are granting our perception of security.
The Mobile Media and Media Ecologies module (MMME) requires our consideration of ways in which ‘cutting edge’ interactive and mobile technologies might play a role alongside traditional interpretive signage in disseminating context-specific information and media for tourists and ‘the general public’ in and around the area of the Castle Keep, Black Gate, and St. Nicholas Cathedral in Newcastle.
I have to admit – I’m no great fan of ‘History.’ The word ‘History’ evokes for me period-drama images of kings and queens, castles and peasants, heavy stone engravings, cosy explanations and linear timelines of ‘important’ dates.
I am however interested in contemporary notions of our collective heritage: ‘Where we are coming from?’ and ‘Where we are going?’
The historic ‘Old Town’ comprising the Castle Keep, Black Gate and Cathedral is in many senses birthplace of the City of Newcastle so I decided to visit the city’s local history library and try to get some sense of how a city is ‘born’.
Rather than turn this blogpost into my own phony-historic sketch of Newcastle I’d like simply to share, in a scrapbook fashion, various clippings and notes:
In 1168 the burgesses of Newcastle were fined 100 marks for compelling a knight to swear, which was an infringement of the then laws of honour; but the sum was remitted for their services in the king’s Castle.
King Henry I. granted laws, customs and privileges to this infant community.*
*An ancient parchment register, in Northumberland House, contains an article entitled, “These are the laws and customs which King Henry granted to his burgesses of Newcastle.”
“In the borough there ought neither to be given merchet, heriot, blood-wit or stengedwit.”
“No foreigner be allowed to cut fish to sell.”
“Whosoever shall hold land in the borough a year and a day justly, and without claim, if the claimant be within the kingdom, he is not bound to answer such claimant.”
“Every burgess may have a furness and mill.”
“No foreigner ought to buy cloth to buy, unless he be of the custom of the borough.”
“A burgess may carry his corn out of the country whithersoever he pleases without licence.”
1. Hue and Cry to be raised against obstinate offenders against the peace of the town, who are to be punished by the extremity of law; one half of the fines imposed on such persons by the Mayor and twenty-four of the town to go to the King, and the other half to the Corporation.
Of course – another strategy for making information/data and concepts more ‘tangible’ or ‘graspable’ when exhibiting in the public realm, is to re-present the information using a ‘loaded’ material, (as this example from a Liverpool Museum demonstrates…)
How to visualise data/information, in a tangible way, in the public realm?
Back in November I had a look at this work, DEATH COUNTER by Santiago Sierra, which was installed on the front of Hiscox Insurance HQ in central London, for the course of 2009.
The giant LED, reminiscent of the digital clocks and information boards seen throughout most major cities, tallies (in real-time) the total number of human deaths worldwide, starting from zero at 00:00:00 on the 1st of January 2009.
In terms of ‘visualising data,’ there is a simple reciprocal relationship between a binary conception of life OR death and the counter-intuitive representation of these concepts as ‘one’ (death) and ‘zero’ (life), accumulating on the huge display. Despite the potentially emotive subject matter, and the high value placed on individual human lives, the presentation is unspectacular in the extreme:
business as usual…
One quite remarkable aspect of the Sierra work, is the way in which it was funded – through a legal contract. The work was loaned to Hiscox for the duration of the exhibition, in exchange for a €150,000 life insurance policy, which would be payable in the event of the artists death.
Through a contextual balancing of an art-market value and an insurance value of the artists life, the work highlights and makes explicit the core component of the insurance industry – careful translation of the perceived, constant, risk of catastrophe into bankable capital.*
* As well as providing insurance for major banks such as Lloyds of London, Bermuda based Hiscox, provide cover in the event of kidnapping, hurricane and financial disasters. They posted pre-tax profits of £320.6m for 2009.
In considering gesture, interaction, sound and public space intervention the organ grinder (and his monkey) are springing to mind…
The wikipedia entry in this case is really excellent and says more than I could say – some highlights:
They apparently were not interested in keeping their instrument in tune or cranking at a rate suited to the music which was “programmed” in their barrel organ.
Many cities in the United Kingdom had ordinances prohibiting organ grinders. The authorities often encouraged policemen to treat the grinders as beggars or public nuisances.
the disappearance of organ grinders from European streets was in large part due to the early application of national and international Copyright laws.
My first assignment of the DOING module (Simple Twisting Interface) introduced me to questions regarding the potential ‘resolution’ of information within a simple and intuitive twisting gesture – in that case turning a potentiometer and triggering audio samples within a MAXmsp patch.
For my second assignment of the DOING module (presentated 17/3/2010) I had an idea, which would work in a conceptually opposite direction:
I have begun to outline concerns regarding tokenistic ‘one click’ digital engagement with legal and political frameworks thru handheld devices and the web (see previous posts.) Further to this, I am also alert and suspicious of the current ‘mania’ regarding the use of gesture, touch and interaction with digital technology and especially in relation to the new breed of ’smart phones,’ and home physical computing (iPhone, Nintendo Wii etc.)
And, since the title of the project brief was ‘Mirrors,’ I decided to work on something which could bring to the fore this fascination with our own (seemingly) reflected action.
I had an idea to develop some kind of application which could reflect and make apparent the (pathetic) nature of a users contribution. This application would require a constant interaction in order to provide a very limited and basic feedback.
My idea was to use Processing to create a sketch for a potential iPhone application which would do NOTHING UNLESS SHAKEN. On shaking the device, a looped video file will play but then, if the user stops shaking, the video will pause. Since the video is set to loop after only a few seconds this constant user effort will return a very limited response.
In terms of the media file, I wanted something silly and banal and I decided to use a video of someone playing the maracas. A suitable media file, which I found in the incredible Prelinger Archives and sampled in order to produce the loop, can be viewed here: http://www.archive.org/details/Havana-Madri_2
Below is my sketch – which is extremely simple – embedding the video and overlaying an image of an iPhone. Mouse movement over the sketch is used for the purpose of the sketch as an analogous ‘demo’ signal in place of actual, physical iPhone ’shaking.’
One thing which this brings to my mind, is a memorable early scene in The Matrix (Neo’s first encounter with the elusive Morpheus) where a Nokia phone is taken out of a parcel box and, without stimulation, the mouthpiece of the device springs forth, giving a physical expression to the already heightened sense of ‘drama’ in this particular moment.
Whilst searching for a YouTube clip of the scene, I stumbled across a comment left on another video (specifically related to that Nokia phone) which gives further clues to the nature of this seductive and overwhelming effect:
Below, a fan remix video highlights this juxtaposition of cellphone interaction and drama in The Matrix; mobile ringtones precede heroic violence against an oppressive infrastructure; telephones are presented as both gateways and exits for drama and escape. (Watch it all – it’s great!)
Another YouTube video (below) makes audible, the ominous electro-magnetic interference which often preceded the shrill personalised ringtones of the late nineties – further emphasising another way in which these mobile devices engender dramatic tension.* (Inadvertently?) the video also has some kind of intense rhythmic machine-like banging in the background.
So! – Don’t be annoyed next time someone picks up a call at an inappropriate time – REMEMBER! – In our, highly-networked, global society, ALL PHONES are the BAT-PHONE: Each and every one of us must, at all times, be ready and willing to be called upon and to act in the role of protagonist, centre ov the stage.***
* refers to: Brenda Laurel, Computers as Theatre (1991)
**iPhone users still experience this nostalgia-tinged interference phenomena if they go anywhere near an old telly.
***It does appear to be the case that we are all subconsciously sleepwalking towards the belief that we are NOT IN FACT MERELY RECEIVING A PHONECALL but instead, that we are at a pivotal point of the most important drama ever to manifest and potentially we are making THE crucial connection which might ultimately FREE (not only our individual self, but also) the whole of humankind from our collective technological enslavement.
Sergio Muñoz Sarmiento is an artist who practices art law. He is interested in the relationship between contemporary art and law, with a focus on copyright, free speech, deaccessioning, and nonprofit organizations.
Manufacturers of riot and personal defence shields since 1977, when Arnolds made for the Metropolitan Police the first shields ever to be used in the UK.
Coincidence Engine One consists of a precisely fabricated expanded polystyrene foam construction whose form evokes an amphitheatre. Within this structure, twelve hundred clocks of identical design are arrayed in concentric arcs.
As an interactive artist Rozin creates installations and sculptures that have the unique ability to change and respond to the presence and point of view of the viewer.
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