“Tantalum Memorial – Reconstruction”
a new artwork by Harwood, Wright, Yokokoji

01SJ Biennial: “Superlight” at the San Jose Museum of Art
May 10th - August 31st, 2008

“Tantalum Memorial – Reconstruction” is the first in a series of telephony-based memorials by the artists group Harwood, Wright, Yokokoji. The title of the work refers to the metal tantalum, an essential component of mobile phones, and is a memorial to the Congolese who have died from wars over the mining of this metal. The work is constructed from redundant electromechanical Strowger switches - the basis of the first automatic telephone exchanges. Members of London's Congolese community trigger the switches when they make phone calls through “Telephone Trottoire” - a “social telephony” project also designed by the artists with the Congolese radio programme Nostalgie Ya Mboka. The precisely poised movements and sounds of the switches create a sculptural presence for this otherwise intangible network of circulating conversations. In “Tantalum Memorial – Reconstruction”, Harwood, Wright, and Yokoji weave together the ambiguities of globalisation, transnational migration and our addiction to constant communication.

The “Coltan Wars”

Since August 1998 there have been 3.9 million deaths and over 361,000 refugees created by the so-called “coltan wars” in the Congo region. Coltan ore is mined for the metal tantalum - an essential component of mobile phones and other communication devices that is now coveted by dozens of international mining companies and warring local militias. Although the conflict has continued up to the present day it remains almost entirely unknown outside of Africa.

Almon Strowger

Almon Brown Strowger was born in Penfield near Rochester, New York. An
undertaker by profession, he believed that the wife of a rival undertaker who worked at his local telephone exchange was routing customers through to her husband. His automatic telephone exchange made it possible to call someone directly instead of going through a human operator. The invention, patented on the 10th March 1891, is thought responsible for the conceptualization of modern telephone networks. His switches were in service until the 1990s when they were replaced by digital technologies made from tantalum.

“Telephone Trottoire”

“Telephone Trottoire” is a “social telephony” network aimed at the Congolese community in London, approximately 90% of whom are refugees or asylum seekers. In the Congo, where free speech has been censored for over forty years, people spread information while standing on street corners – by “radio trottoire” or “pavement radio”. Produced by the artists in collaboration with the Congolese radio programme “Nostalgie Ya Mboka”, “Telephone Trottoire” calls people up and invites them to pass around stories or topical news items over their phones.

Just to let everyone know that E2Prom will now be taking place on the 17th of June 2007 (not the 24th June as previously advertised in the MediaShed newsletter and the Festival 5 Brochure). So now you don't have to decide whether to go to Sundown at the Folk Festival or E2Prom at the MediaShed. You can go to both. E2Prom the funky relaxed evening of digital art, music, film and media kicks off at the MediaShed at 7pm on the 17th June. Sundown's poets, musicians, comedians and multimedia maestros converge on The Ship in Leigh-on-Sea on Sunday the 24th June. Everyone is a winner!

Happy Christmas from the MediaShed!

To celebrate the festive season the MediaShed Christmas party took place on ice at the plaza rink. There were no obvious injuries sustained apart from public humiliation. Which we are fortunately well used to by now...

FREE MEDIA FROM THE MOUTH OF THE THAMES

This event is part of the "Enter Network" hosted by The Junction - a series of monthly networking events designed to build media arts contacts, knowledge and resources in the Eastern region. Lots of organisers from around the region will be present. This is our big opportunity to show them how it goes down!



An open discussion about the free-media philosophy featuring some of the MediaShed's most recent media arts projects:

Graham Harwood - what is free-media and why did we choose the MediaShed model for Southend?

Richard Wright - how does it all work? "Telephone Trottoire", an art project for Congolese cellphones;

David Valentine - the "Free-media Video Toolkit", building a free-media resource from New York to the East of England;

Rory McPherson - "LEDFun", Rory's recent "free-media" based microbusiness;

and from Ravensbourne College - Prof. Karel Dudesek on DIY media and the "Takeaway Festival"

So relax, feel free to ask questions, try things out and generally breath in the atmosphere of free-media!

Thursday December 7, from 6.30-9.00pm
The MediaShed, Unit 38, Grainger Road Industrial Estate, Southend on Sea, SS2 5DD.

ENVIRONMENT 2.0
a Futuresonic 2007 festival special feature.

Futuresonic is taking steps to reduce the environmental impact of the festival, starting with a pioneering study of the carbon footprint of the Futuresonic 2007 festival, undertaken in collaboration with the Manchester-based Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and Creative Concern, and a series of projects which highlight social and environmental impact of future arts and technologies.

The issues raised by this will be explored under the banner of ENVIRONMENT 2.0 within the SOCIAL TECHNOLOGIES SUMMIT, the main conference strand of the Futuresonic festival.

skintstream.net

Organiser Stuart Bowditch says "Skintstream is a vehicle for people to express themselves and a way of connecting to the rest of the world using the least amount of money possible" To hear the E2prom event live click below

skintstream.net

The event runs from 19:00 to 22:00 Sunday 10th December 2006.

“5+5=5” is a collection of 5 short documentaries by 5 film makers about 5 networked art projects. They were commissioned by arts organisation Furtherfield in order to introduce audiences to UK based artists who explore “imaginative and critical approaches to social engagement”. The full program consists of “Free Media” with Mongrel, “Polyfaith” with Chris Dooks, “Golden Shot (Revisited)” with Simon Poulter, “Want and Need” with C6 and “VisitorsStudio” with Furtherfield (see netartfilm.furtherfield.org

Our doco talks about Mongrel's early history, its decision to set up the MediaShed and its committment to "free-media".

Mongrel’s “Free-media” doc for “5+5=5” was made by Dave Valentine.

Play back the Quicktime version here (76Mb)

Play back the Windows version here (28Mb)

I just spent a very pleasant two weeks in Vancouver at the end of September launching my "baroque search engine" project The Mimeticon.

I was exhibiting at a small media arts festival called the New Forms Festival. Here the are pictures to prove it!

A Wikipedia Article has now been created. You can read, edit or add to this article by clicking here MediaShed Wikipedia

Yesterday morning Delboy and myself delivered a Light-Fantastic Workshop for Southend Toy Library.  You can see a selection of photos by clicking here.

It went really well, in fact a girl who normally doesn't enjoy any type of events and didn't want to come to ours was apparently raving about the Workshop.  Her Mother rang Tracey (who runs Southend Toy Library) and told her that her daughter has never been so happy since she was 5 years old!  She is now 15 years old.  One of the main objectives of the Workshop was to have fun and I think we achieved that.