Locative Histories: exploring the continued influence of early Locative Media art

Conor McGarrigle, Emergent Digital Practices, University of Denver

1Saturday, October 12, 13

Ben Russell (1999)2Saturday, October 12, 13

every room has an accessible history

every place has emotional attachments you can open and save

you can search for sadness in New York

everything in the world, animate and inanimate, abstract and concrete, has thoughts attached

Sex and even love are easier to find.

3Saturday, October 12, 13

what was once the sole preserve of builders, architects and engineers falls into the hands of everyone: the ability to shape and organise the real

world and the real space

4Saturday, October 12, 13

Karosta Locative Workshop (2003)

The international workshop entitled "Locative media" will focus on GPS, mapping and positioning technologies, and how wireless networking

impact on notions of space time and social organization

5Saturday, October 12, 13

mapping from below; creating context for mobile/digital art; mobile ad hoc social networks as the next social revolution; text-messaging + hyper-coordination; technologies of co-operation amplification & the

'wireless commons' debate; netwar + the appropriation of surveillance technologies by tactical media; and the relation between new locative

media and magik.

6Saturday, October 12, 13

(Locative Media is) a new site for old discussions about the relationship of consciousness to place and other people.

A framework within which to actively engage with, critique, and shape a rapid set of technological developments.

A context within which to explore new and old models of communication, community and exchange.

Ben Russell TCM Reader (2004)

7Saturday, October 12, 13

56°57'30.04”N 24°06'39.20”E

8Saturday, October 12, 13

'position' : instrumentalized localization of space as points in a Cartesian grid

9Saturday, October 12, 13

'position' : instrumentalized localization of space as points in a Cartesian grid

‘location’ : the space of individuals and communities, replete with histories, narratives and layers of association, which imbue place with meaning and which can be revealed and augmented

through the application of locative technologies

10Saturday, October 12, 13

Urban Tapestries (2002-2007)

11Saturday, October 12, 13

Urban Tapestries is a Proboscis project exploring social and cultural uses of the convergence of place and mobile

technologies through transdisciplinary research. To help us model emerging social and cultural behaviours we have built an experimental platform that allows people to author and access

place-based content (text, audio and pictures). It is a framework for exploring and sharing experience and knowledge,

for leaving and annotating ephemeral traces of peoples’ presence in the geography of the city.

12Saturday, October 12, 13

“what it was about local places that mattered to people as they went about their daily routines. True daily life is richer

and more complex than the traditional view, relying as much on social networks, personal experiences, and chance interactions and connections, so pervasive computing

applications should attempt to reflect this”

13Saturday, October 12, 13

...ways users engage with technology, the usage modes and habits which grow up around new technologies. (Agre)

...how the world reveals itself to us as one that is meaningful for particular sorts of actions. (Dourish)

Technologies do not conform politely to predetermined or intended functions” rather uses and functions are revealed through practice.

(Coyne)

14Saturday, October 12, 13

NAMAland

15Saturday, October 12, 13

Teri Rueb (1999) Trace

16Saturday, October 12, 13

Esther Polaak, Leva Auzina and Rixc (2004) Milk Project

17Saturday, October 12, 13

18Saturday, October 12, 13

19Saturday, October 12, 13

20Saturday, October 12, 13

21Saturday, October 12, 13

22Saturday, October 12, 13

23Saturday, October 12, 13

24Saturday, October 12, 13

25Saturday, October 12, 13

Thank you!

conormcgarrigle.comconormcgarrigle@gmail.com

26Saturday, October 12, 13