The Mobile Audience

Abstract

The convergence of mobile technologies and ubiquitous computing is creating a world where information-rich environments may be mapped directly onto urban topologies. This book tracks the history and genesis of locative and wearable media and the ground-breaking work of pioneer artists in the field. It examines changing concepts of space and place for a wide range of traditional disciplines ranging from Anthropology, Sociology, Fine Art and Architecture to Cultural and Media Studies, Fashion and Graphic design. Mobile and Pervasive media are beginning to proliferate in the landscape of computer mediated interaction in public space through the emergence of smartphone technologies such as the iPhone, cloud computing extended wifi services and the semantic web in cities. These dispersed forms of interaction raise a whole series of questions on the nature of narrative and communication, particularly in relation to an audience's new modes of mobile participation and reception. These issues are explored through a series of focused essays by leading theorists, seminal case studies and practitioner interviews with artists at the cutting edge of these technologies, who are extending the potential of the medium to enhance and critique technological culture. By emphasizing the role of the audience in this nomadic environment, the collection traces the history and development of ambulant artistic practice in this new domain, creating an essential handbook for those wishing to understand the dominant global technology of the 21st Century and its implications for Art, Culture and Audience. Contents, including contributed chapters Howard Rheingold: Introduction Martin Rieser: Overview Section 1: Towards Hybridity. A History of Audience Mobility Erkki Huhtamo: Pockets of Plenty: An Archaeology of Mobile Media Susanne Jaschko: The Temporal and Spatial Design of Video and Film-based Installation Art in the 60s and 70s: Their Inherent Perception Processes and Effects on the Perceiver's Actions Martin Rieser: Forgotten Histories of Interactive Space Adriana de Souza e Silva: Art by Telephone: From Static to Mobile Interfaces Section 2: Critical Issues in Mobile Art Critical Contexts and Definitions Mary Griffiths and Sean Cubitt: Mobile/Audience: Thinking the Contradictions Jon Dovey and Constance Fleuriot: Towards a Language of Mobile Media Beryl Graham: Snapshots from Curating Mobility Understanding Public Spatialisation Martin Rieser: Beyond Mapping: New Strategies for Meaning in Locative Artworks Anke Jacob: Digital Media and Architecture An Observation Mirjam Struppek: Urban Screens as the Visualization Zone of the City's Invisible Communication Sphere The Creative User Debbi Lander: Future Physical: The Creative User and theme of response-ABILITY Andrea Zapp: A Fracture in Reality: Networked Narratives as Imaginary Fields of Action and Dislocation Section 3: Case Studies Locative Art Josephine Reid and Richard Hull: What Makes Mediascapes Compelling? Valentina Nisi, Glorianna Davenport/Valentina Nisi, Mads Haahr and Glorianna Davenport: Hopstory/Media Tales of the Liberties Drew Hemment, John Evans, Mika Raento and Theo Humphries: Loca: Location Oriented Critical Arts Usman Haque: Invisible Topographies Jonah Brucker-Cohen: Wifi-Hog: The Battle for Ownership in Public Wireless Space The Creative User: The User as Co-creator Paul Sermon: Puppeteers, Performers or Avatars: A Perceptual Difference in Telematic Space Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau: Mobile Feelings: Wireless Communication of Heartbeat and Breath for Mobile Art Victoria Fang: The Living Room Arianna Bassoli: tunA and the Power of Proximity Margot Jacobs: Engagement with the Everyday Cati Vaucelle: Between Improvisation and Publication: Supporting the Creative Metamorphosis with Technology Anthony Rowe: Developing Creative Audience Interaction: Four Projects by Squidsoup Wearable Computing Lisa Stead, Petar Goulev, Caroline Evans and Ebrahim Mamdani: The Emotional Wardrobe Katherine Moriwaki: Social Fashioning and Active Conduits Laura Beloff: Wunderkammer: Wearables as an Artistic Strategy Section 4: Artist Interviews Locative Fiona Raby: Flirt and Mset Teri Rueb: Trace, The Choreography of Everyday Movement and Drift Matt Adams: Blast Theory Steve Benford: Mixed Reality Lab Drew Hemment: The Politics of Mobility Wearables Joey Berzowska: Memory-Rich Garments and Social Interaction