Christina Ray, Glowlab, Psy.Geo.Conflux, Visitor.files & One Block Radius

Christina Ray and Dave Mandl: Glowlab³⁵, Psy.Geo.Conflux³⁶, One block radius³⁷ & Visitor.files³⁸

Glowlab is een productie en uitgevers laboratorium, geleid door Christina Ray en Dave Mandl. De activiteiten behelzen, naast hun eigen kunst, een jaarlijkse conferentie, Psy.Geo.Conlfux, een online magazine en het ondersteunen kunstenaars, onderzoekers en technologen. Ze gebruiken kunst en technologie voor hun psychogeografische studies. Glowlab richt zich dus meer dan de eerdere twee voorbeelden ook al op de nieuwe technologieën binnen de Psychogeografie.

De site van glowlab is een bron van informatie aangaande deze thema’s. Of het nu gaat over nieuwe technieken binnen de mobiele technologie, reglementen aangaande dataverkeer, publicaties van nieuwe teksten, of reviews van nieuwe kunst. Hierin toont zich de nieuwe praktijk van de hedendaagse kunst zich dus al heel duidelijk. Veel kunstenaars houden zich tegenwoordig bezig met de combinatie van deze factoren, om tot nieuwe uitingsvormen te komen. Dit is ook logisch voor een groep die zich bezighoudt met psychogeografie. Door middel van de mobiele telefoon en alle nieuwe functies hierop, en zaken als draadloos Internet, kan dataverkeer tegenwoordig plaatsgebonden zijn, en zo het werkveld van de psychogeografie betreden. Bij de laatste editie van hun jaarlijkse Conflux festival was er veel aandacht voor stadswandelingen. Deze liepen uiteen van wandelingen op basis van door Glowlab gemodificeerde kaarten en andere navigatie middelen, tot hightech dérives, gebruikmakend van pakken met ingebouwde computers.³⁹

Ik licht nog twee projecten van deze groep uit, beiden gerealiseerd door Cristina Ray. Het project Visitor.Files is een dérive project. Het draait er in dit project om het verhoogde bewustzijn dat een toerist heeft voor de omgeving te reproduceren in haar eigen woonmgeving. Ray gebruikt een uiteenlopen scala aan gereedschappen om alle factoren in de omgeving vast te leggen. Dit doet ze door iedere kruising die ze passeert voor een kwartier te fotograferen, filmen, aantekeningen te maken en flyers en andere samples te verzamelen. Deze zaken worden bij elkaar opgeborgen en worden voorzien van een notitie met de tijd en datum. De informatie wordt gerepresenteerd in handgetekende, kleurgecodeerde kaarten, die systematisch worden opgeslagen.⁴⁰

One Block Radius is een uitermate uitgebreid psychogeografische inspectie van het blok rondom de uitbreiding van Moma in New York. Dit project wordt gepresenteerd op een website waarin een portret van het blok wordt geschilderd in vele lagen, die de vele vormen van data weergeven. De gereedschappen omvatten blogs, video documentatie, kaarten, geluidsopnames, en interviews. De weergegeven data wordt opgedeeld in drie categorieën, observatie, interactie en antwoord. De weergegeven lagen omvatten zaken als regels, geur, kunst, dagelijks leven, technologie, transport, vrije tijd etc.⁴¹

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Glowlab (Cristina Ray)

"Hello friends. This is the first issue of the new Glowlab, now published in the form of a bi-monthly web-based magazine. In each issue we'll explore the ways in which artists and technologists are interpreting the concept of psychogeography today, specifically in relation to contemporary art.

For a little background on how our new format and website came about, see my "Notes on the New Glowlab." Contributor Sharilyn Neidhardt has written a longer introduction to the issue with some thoughts on our first theme, STRANGER. We're proud to present lots of interesting [and sometimes strange] work in this issue -- hope you enjoy it."

Glowlab is an artist-run production and publishing lab engaging urban public space as the medium for contemporary art and technology projects. We track emerging approaches to psychogeography, the exploration of the physical and psychological landscape of cities. Our annual Conflux festival, exhibitions, events and our bi- monthly web-based magazine support a network of artists, researchers and technologists around the world.

Psychogeography is an open and highly experimental discipline concerned with the ways in which the geographic environment affects emotions and behavior. The Situationists first coined the term psychogeography in the 1950s. They explored the city by engaging in “dérives” or observational drifts with the intention of discovering new perspectives on urban life. Current approaches to psychogeography vary, and include artistic, political, philosophical and scientific work in fields ranging from architecture to street art. Glowlab is particularly interested in the psychogeographic elements of contemporary public- space art, including performance, documentary work, film/video and urban research. We aim to bring together diverse perspectives on emerging methods and practice of psychogeography.

See related topics and documents

http://www.glowlab.com/lab2/

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Psy.Geo.Conflux

Brooklyn, NY -- Glowlab is pleased to announce Psy.Geo.Conflux 2004, the second in an annual series dedicated to current artistic and social investigations in psychogeography [the study of the effects of the geographic environment on the emotions and behavior of individuals]. Part festival and part conference, it brings together visual and sound artists, writers, urban adventurers and the public to explore the physical and psychological landscape of the city. Events will take place throughout NYC, with a headquarters located at PARTICIPANT INC, 95 Rivington St. between Orchard and Ludlow. The Conflux headquarters will serve as a place for participants and visitors to meet, pick up maps and schedules, and attend lectures. All events will be free and open to the public.

Psy.Geo.Conflux 2004 will feature a full program of events from Thursday through Sunday, including experimental walks with altered maps and navigational aids; high-tech drifts through the city using wearable computing devices; a human- scale chess game to take place in Times Square; a walking presentation of an urban documentary project commissioned by the New Museum of Contemporary Art; a series of temporary installations, lectures, audio and video works and more.

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The visitor.files (Derive project)

Is it possible to be a stranger in your own neighborhood? The Visitor.Files project originated with a wish to replicate the heightened awareness commonly felt when first landing in a foreign city, when every person, sight and smell appears curious and full of potential. For this project, I attempt to become a temporary visitor even in the most familiar of locations.

Visitor.Files documents the common flow of city sidewalk activity with multiple media and translates the recorded observations into a visual code presented as a series of hand- drawn maps. I'm developing the project as a personal tool to integrate my daily experience in public space with my desire to document and present it in a systematic way. The process involves acting as a bystander on the streets and quietly observing activity around me. At each intersection I visit, I spend about 15 minutes writing notes, recording video, taking still photographs and posting photos to a blog. I also record the date, time, weather and location for each session and collect “samples” such as flyers, newspapers or found objects. The information is entered into a database and translated into a series of hand-drawn, color-coded maps which are stored in a slim grey file case.

The project packs an almost absurd amount of documentation into a brief recording session using both low and high-tech tools. This forces me to observe in an extremely intense way. I've been stopped on the streets and questioned; I'm constantly aware of being both observer and observed. The code I've developed for the maps uses geometric shapes to represent pedestrian movement, traffic and ambient activity. Colors represent the days the week, the time and the weather. By momentarily stopping and translating the experience of street-level activity into coded visual maps, the Visitor.File becomes a unique graphic image of a specific location and time.

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One block Radius

One Block Radius, a project of Brooklyn artists Christina Ray and Dave Mandl [known collaboratively as Glowlab], is an extensive psychogeographic survey of the block where New York's New Museum of Contemporary Art will build a new facility in late 2004. Engaging a variety of tools and media such as blogs, video documentation, maps, field recordings & interviews, Glowlab creates a multi-layered portrait of the block as it has never been seen before [and will never be seen again]. This website is an interactive archive for the project, which will continue to grow over time as we build a dense data- map of the block. The information collected is organized into three categories: observation, interaction & response. Click on each category to begin exploring the block.

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