CONTEXT

The Institute blog. A collection of information, essays and polemics relating to industry, culture and technology.

Business cannot exist in a vacuum. We examine the nature of ideas, communications and change within our contemporary cultural and technological landscape. We highlight potentially harmful actions and advocate for the freedom, meaning and agency required for human industry to thrive in a complicated and uncertain world.

Graffio Arts 12/31/22 Graffio Arts 12/31/22

REAL: Taking the Initiative with Phoenix Arts

We coached 25 film makers and digital artists with business start-up training to grow their new businesses.

Graffio Arts have just finished the REAL incubation programme at Phoenix Arts in Leicester. 25 film makers and digital artists are now moving ahead with their new businesses.

Course design and leadership : Graffio Arts. REAL initiative coordinators: Nick and Julia Hamer.

REAL Incubation will run from April 2022 to May 2023. The programme includes: Free access to a large co-working space at Phoenix Arts, access to industry standard production facilities, and film / digital art kit, screening and exhibition opportunities, including REAL Film Festival in April 2023, business start-up training to establish and grow your new business, inspiration from established documentary and digital art practitioners, mentoring, coaching, support to introduce their film, art or service to the market and help from experienced professionals to work on a passion project, with a focus on documentary or digital arts.

The course will be led by Steve and Guy, Directors at Institute/ Graffio Arts, and will include contributions from other industry guests.

Steve Barradell has worked with SME’s through to international blue-chip companies for over 20 years, specialising in business development, project management, marketing and insight for creative-lead businesses. Steve spent six years as a creative business consultant and was an accredited Growth Accelerator Business Coach.

Guy Boyle has spent over 25 years in the arts and has worked across many disciplines; design, digital imaging, branding, animation and film art direction for some of the best-known global brands. Guy spent seven years as an Associate and Senior Lecturer at the University of the Arts London / Central St. Martins, covering design and media practice and has a flair for developing young creative talent through education and industry.

“Our goals for the program were to increase the creative’s understanding of the relationship between personal creative goals and viable commercial opportunities. Now, at the end of the programme, the delegates are taking their first informed first steps into industry.”

As part of the programme, delegates were supported to propose and work on a self-directed ‘passion project’, to develop their portfolio. REAL Incubation will surround you with inspiration to help shape your ideas. Examples of passion projects may include:

A short documentary film or video
An interactive documentary
A piece of digital or immersive (VR/AR/MR) art
An audio or sound art piece
A musical score/key artwork for a film
A treatment/pitch or development product associated with a new project

Some delegates had to develop a service offering or develop their creative practice in relation to commercial activities in different ways. This may require bolstering the ability to secure funding streams or to develop their marketing scope or focus. The key objective of the programme is for the delegates to develop their ability to express their ideas creatively and to find commercial vehicles for this expression.

There are a huge variety of people on the programme and it’s been a humbling experience to witness some of the history and experience of the veteran delegates and the enthusiasm and ambition of the relative newcomers to their fields in documentary film making, video, immersive art and beyond.

We’d like to extend a thank you to Phoenix Arts for helping to make this programme possible, Nick and Julia for making REAL happen and to the delegates for their open minded enthusiasm. You can find out more below.

LINKS

realinitiative.phoenix.org.uk

www.phoenix.org.uk/real-initiative

DEVELOP YOUR CREATIVE BUSINESS

One of our key ambitions at Institute is to help others develop their creative practice and to be creative about how this practice can and will, pay the bills. If you are interested in becoming involved in this initiative in the future, then contact Nick and Julia here. You can find out more about the spread of Institute’s services here.

Graffio Arts 6/22/22 Graffio Arts 6/22/22

How to Market Misery, Suffering and Death

Welcome to propaganda marketed by Millennials. Is it as clumsy and deceitful as the ideas of the generation it seeks to represent?

On the left is a piece of work featuring an east African republic, with a history of genocide, put together by a designer working for the British Government. On the right is a poster for a fictional dystopian film set in South Africa.

Welcome to propaganda marketed by Millennials. Is it as clumsy and deceitful as the ideas of the generation it seeks to represent?

Article by Graffio Arts.

MARKETING MISERY

Institute is about the communication of ideas. What’s a useful idea? What’s the context? How can we communicate your idea to the people you want to talk to?

Sometimes we hit a hurdle and this hurdle is the biggest we’ve seen for a long, long time. We are human and these are ideas that we want to share with other humans. These ideas usually turn into well meaning outputs and we usually jump into the development of these with a shared ambition to say what you want to say, efficiently, for the good of all, or at least in a way where no one gets hurt.

But what if we are dealing with ideas that could potentially harm our fellow humans? That’s not good. So, put the kettle on, find a comfy chair and lets discuss how we market misery, suffering and death.

KILLING HOPE

This campaign is designed to illustrate how a sitting government is taking dynamic steps to deal with an apparent crisis. This is a government that uses catch phrases and simple, get-it-done concepts as key foundations for its communications. Focusing on the achievement of results (regardless of consequence) works for them and it will likely continue until the point where it stops working.

We’re going at the edges of this. Maybe that’s because it’s easier, maybe we’re cowards. Maybe we just think that this goes beyond politics. To borrow from another group that travelled across seas and oceans in the search of a better life, the human rights under threat here, we believe to be self evident.

Let’s start breaking this down. It’s all about hordes of troublesome, potential immigrants and the gangs that orchestrate the logistics of their travel.

The pitch is that the goal is to stop immigration and the suffering of those involved in these dangerous journeys. The plan will dissuade them from embarking on these journeys in the future and if that fails then there is a mechanisms in place to physically export them to Rwanda.

You may argue that, considering the financial cost associated with these plans, either way, we, the public don’t get to see them, and that is the key political goal here. One strand of this pitch is apparently about changing perceptions and the other is about the politics of a human and their requirements within a state. It’s a belt and braces approach. What’s not to like?

If that wasn’t problematic enough in terms of the Immigration plan, the marketing for this is largely hidden away in Facebook ads or in other discreet media outlets. These ads are paid for by this government and they are targeted to discreet audiences. This might give you an idea of the real audiences these ads are aimed at…

Make it stand out

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

The premise is that this is part of the two pronged strategy- this is to dissuade potential immigrants and traffickers from embarking on a journey to the UK. Its about killing that dream. How would you target that specific audience? How would you deal with the varied languages? Are you using international ads? Do they even Facebook?

This isn’t what it says on the tin. This is for a specific British audience and its about affirmation of political ideas. The headline: New measures will make it harder for you to reach and remain in the UK is disingenuous to say the least. It should read, them. We are talking about them, those, those other than us.

Did they use specific science fiction tropes to indicate the other, the alien? We’ll look into this later but it does seem that this is a result of visual ignorance and lack of empathy rather than the development of a sinister visual language. The colour purple has been injected into the design of the ads above. Why do you think they did that? Is this about bleakness, alienation, isolation? Is this clever in an evil genius way or is it just clumsy?

Is doing something that’s bad, badly, good? Are we lucky that this could be something bad, done well and that would be really bad? How confusing. This equation doesn’t usually involve bad at the start and you have to wonder what was going through people’s minds when they embarked upon this campaign. We’ll come back to this point.

LET’S PRETEND THAT THIS IS HONEST COMMUNICATIONS

There is an argument that immigration isn’t really a problem, that making it a problem, is a political act. There is strong evidence to suggest that this initiative will not stop new journeys across the channel and that immigrants to Rwanda often stay for a limited time and then re-attempt the same journey or a new journey with a different destination, across Africa. It is difficult to maintain the idea that this initiative will stop gangs of human traffickers.

This campaign is used across social media. This is probably largely aimed at voters but we are hearing that this messaging is supposed to reach potential immigrants and to dissuade them from making the journey across the channel. If they are the ultimate audience and a proportion of them will die each year, this audience shrinks slightly but is replenished by new potential immigrants. If the messaging is supposed to end up with gang leaders, is the plan that they reassess the viability of their business in relation to this messaging?

Marketeers involved in the delivery of these campaigns are usually obsessed with audiences and data. Is death ignored here in the same way that we could say, the elderly receiving messages about the NHS will lose a proportion of their demographic as they die each year?

DOING BAD, BADLY

We believe that the underlying immigration campaign was designed by FCB INFERNO and that the Rwanda campaign was produced by Digital teams at no 10 or The Home Office in or collaboration across these teams. We asked key members but have not received a response. FCB INFERNO’s contribution was disclosed under a freedom of information act and the specifics of their involvement was addressed in an online article.

Looking through social media profiles, the Digital teams seem to be mostly in their mid to late 20s, career ambitious and proud to be producing ‘hard hitting’ work. Across government social media the campaigns produced are simple, clear and statement orientated. A few minutes of scrolling through Home Office feeds though, could make you feel that you’d been hit by an emotional truck. We accomplished this, here’s the numbers, we stopped this, we made this happen, more numbers, we made these people do this, rinse and repeat. All of these communications assume that the audience is okay with these decisions. The bullet points, the numbers, the evidence of accomplishments are brutally stark and the output is a bizarre visual soup of disjointed ideas, executed in mundane and inappropriate ways.

This is propaganda and it’s badly done. The visual language emerges out of the online ad space. There is very little understanding of graphic language or typography. The layouts are clumsy and the colour choices are just…silly.

Here’s an example from the New Plan for Immigration campaign. This is an animated sequence and shown above are four of the key frames. We are presented with a Union Jack background and a bold, positive logo. That tells us that something very patriotic is going on, its a bold endeavour and its progressive. Then we get a short story highlighting activities. People with no right to be in the UK were removed. The audience has to believe that this is a good thing. Is there context? It turns out that they are foreign, they are offenders and they are trying to abuse the British asylum system. The numbers are a counter and the 246 shown here shoots up to 527.

Why is this so simplistic? Why spend literal time on counting numbers? That border animates- it makes a journey around the square. It has a notch in the top left as if the frame somehow has 3 dimensions. The text and frame is in a bizarre lobster pink. Why do you think that is? Why would the designer spend time messing around with that silly frame? We are told that the information is about 527 criminals convicted of rape, manslaughter & attempted murder. Is that the colour of rape? Is that the colour of offence of any kind? What does the frame signify? Would it be inappropriate to suggest that someone involved in this wished that those attempted murders were actual murders? That would really hammer the point home. Is that statement a step too far? This is what happens to your rationality when you try to score political points within dehumanised systems of your own making.

In the same way that you could argue that these policy statements show little human empathy, the visual language is a step removed from the subject matter. Why are the people making policy and the designers involved in these communications one step removed from the subject and not displaying the competence usually required with these roles? Shouldn’t these roles attract the best of the best? Both of these parties are telling us that they are doing a good job.

Priti Patel has been working with a Digital team to produce a series of ‘hard hitting’ pieces about the ‘big issues’. This is a campaign where various people are brought in and filmed with Patel while she patronises them and turns what they say into sound bites. We know the way these people are treated could be better. We know it’s politics, we’re used to the ins and outs of that but it’s even more depressing for us when we see creatives collaborating in this way. It’s complicated and we maybe have a romantic view, but there was a time when the decision to go into the arts was a statement of intent. A willingness to see the world in new ways, to drive our culture forward, to enhance humanity, even if we’re stumbling along, doing our best in quite a humble way.

As the world of politics continues to change within a larger culture that continues to change, more and more young people are entering the arts. With that comes a larger spread of views and larger pools of roles available post University. Young creatives are increasingly seeing design, not as a process but as the way things look. The word aesthetic is now being used to purely mean, the visual. Design should be a process, not decoration. Contemporary creative courses and Industry should not be encouraging young creatives to be blandly professional and to do the stuff that looks like, the stuff. We shouldn’t know what the stuff should looks like until the end of the process. We used to know how to manage this danger and we valued the rewards.

Creatives must be ready to see things differently, to ask questions and they must take some cultural responsibility for the things that they produce. In the same way, those that are more experienced should be fostering an environment where questioning everything from the start is promoted as a healthy thing to do. They should be providing frameworks that have space for the development of appropriate outcomes- original outcomes, fit for humans, that contribute to society in meaningful ways.

The Digital teams across government should be asking themselves: ‘Did I take a career misstep? Should I really be in the cake decoration industry? Is that a vocation better suited to my abilities?’ When you are decorating a cake, the cakes been made. You don’t have to take any responsibility for the main job. With any luck, it’s delicious and if not, that’s not your fault. As long as it doesn’t contain anything that causes an allergic reaction and you don’t drop it, it’s all good. You only have to decorate it. There’s the top to deal with, maybe the sides if you’re feeling adventurous. Just grab that pink icing and start drawing silly things on the surface and then stand back and celebrate your genius. Voila! Your job is done.

This is the level that these people are operating at. It doesn’t matter what kind of cake it is, it doesn’t matter if its poisonous. It’s cake and cakes are amazing, therefore what they do is amazing. They messed around with some icing on the top. They drew a boat. The icing was pink and sugary and no one complained about how badly drawn the boat was. The boss loved it. They took a photo of it, put that on social media. Job done. Congratulations.

Maybe we’re making this more complicated than it is. Could it just be that bad ideas attract bad creatives?

KEEPING TALLY

Within a studio designers and artworkers are usually encouraged to take responsibility for the production of their work. They need to check if the work is the right dimensions, the logos are correct, messaging, colours, fonts are all good before they hit save and pass the work on to be published in one or more formats. They don’t usually have to assess human suffering. At what point is this discussed? Does the manager take responsibility or the artworker? Is there a debate between the manager and someone else at the Cabinet Office? How much of the messaging comes from an external source or is this creative team producing the messaging? With this change of policy does the creative team take note of the people that die each year before and after this campaign? If so and the tally of deaths is higher after a year of this new policy in place, do they resign? What kind of yardstick do they use to measure their contribution to our culture? If one of their audience dies they are no longer part of any culture.

CONTEXT NEUTRAL

In a situation like this, how do we measure success? What metrics do we use? Is this the continuation of the speech writer that wrote those memorable lines that helped get President X elected? This is just contemporary political communications right? In this situation, the digital communications emerging on social media are either incredibly naive or fuelled by some of the tricks we’ve already played out in dystopian future fiction.

You may be forgiven for thinking that the idea of social media savvy really just describes an ability to use the software, place text and images in bland but satisfactory configurations, and to remain conscience and context neutral at all times.

It’s at times like this, that we realise how lucky we are. We are managing to work with talented young creatives that we learn from every day, that often show more creativity, grace and common sense than we do.

ARE WE THE BAD GUYS?

“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing. He is not a good man who, without a protest, allows wrong to be committed in his name, and with the means which he helps to supply, because he will not trouble himself to use his mind on the subject."

-John Stuart Mill

For a very long time, most societies have incorporated groups of people capable of helping to deliver ideas that change society. These ideas have affected peoples states of mind; their sense of self, their perceptions of themselves in groups, their sense of urgency, their understanding of geographical location and boundaries, their concepts of ownership, power structures and their understandings of right and wrong.

Just because we can do a thing doesn’t mean that we should do a thing.

WITH THE MEANS WHICH HE HELPS TO SUPPLY

Imagine a gentleman with a German accent and a name that sounded a little like gerbils, approaching us with this brief: “I’d like you to help my brand conquer Europe. My blue eyed mates need a bit more room, y’know? Oh and we don’t like those guys…”

We know how this works. First of all, you need borrow from The Romans. They were pretty good at this style of branding. You’re going to need some compelling justifications for this. We could hijack some religion, maybe grab some pseudo-science? Your tone of voice needs to be a little shouty. Three colours will really show authority. You’re also going to need some sharp uniforms and we’ve got a cracking idea for a logo.

This stuff is easy in retrospect for those trained in this area and we’ve seen how well it works.

Tucker Carlson, a US media celebrity with a prime time spot on the Fox network promotes a fairly disturbing agenda and this isn’t inhibited by the fact that he’s never owned a TV. He has a writer. A second writer actually. The first one had to be dismissed when caught contributing to extreme right wing message boards.

Neo fascist organisations cite Carlson as the guy they learn from when they want to communicate across media outlets where tiki torches and white pointy hats are not quite de rigueur. There are certain tricks the writer uses that hint at certain ideas (if you know what you’re looking for) but seem innocuous enough to be palatable during prime time.

It is not impossible to imagine providing media advice and support that would galvanise opinion around extreme organisations that would eventually result in deaths. Should we do that? Of course not. But where is the line for those responsible for the communication of political ideas? If a political party is elected, it has a mandate. Does a creative employed by that party have a conscience free obligation to help them communicate? Are they in the clear if they are an office for communications that serves whichever party is currently in power?

REAL LIVES, REAL CONCERNS

Did that designer agree with the politics behind this social media campaign? Did they consider potential implications for those migrants? What were they thinking when they hit the save button? Do we, as creatives, take responsibility for communicating any ideas to the best of our ability or do we need to take a larger responsibility when these ideas can potentially lead to misery and death for thousands of people?

A quick web search prior to launch would have provided a host of questions and concerns around various humanitarian, economic, and logistical consequences of this plan. How were these fairly obvious concerns processed by the designer?

PUBLICLY AVAILABLE CRITICISM AVAILABLE PRIOR TO LAUNCH

The UK > Rwanda Migration Partnership is part of The New Plan for Immigration policy. Below is an open letter by refugee Action that criticises the plan and the consultation process surrounding the plan. This is The New Plan for Immigration policy statement.

JOINT OPEN LETTER IN RESPONSE TO NEW PLAN FOR IMMIGRATION CONSULTATION

On 23rd March 2021, the UK Government announced sweeping changes to how they will treat people seeking safety in the UK. Instead of fixing a system that’s been failing people for years, these changes take a wrecking ball to the very principle of asylum.

The UK Government has since invited public feedback on these plans. This would usually be a chance to challenge their plans, raise important details and hold the Government to account. But, as with the inquiry stage for the recent Sewell Report on institutional racism, this consultation is a sham.

The ‘New Plan for Immigration’ is a half-baked political manifesto. It lays out vague, unworkable, cruel and potentially unlawful plans justified by misleading or simply incorrect evidence, wrapped up in racist and divisive language.
The consultation is poorly designed, confusing and inaccessible. The documents are only available in English and Welsh. The questions are clearly designed to lead people into endorsing the Government’s plan.
The Government left people fewer than six working weeks to give their thoughts on the largest changes to the asylum system in two decades.
Normally consultations like this last at least 12 weeks. These six weeks also include Easter holidays, a May bank holiday, Ramadan and an election period during which those involved in local, mayoral and devolved nation elections are restricted in what they can say publicly.
Most incredibly, this consultation does not prioritise the views and experiences of refugees and people seeking asylum. Not one question in the official consultation document asks people about their personal experiences of fleeing persecution or seeking safety in the UK. And the inaccessible process will make it more difficult for many of the most important voices of all to be heard.

This is not a process designed by a Government that genuinely wants to listen or has any interest in being challenged or changing its approach. We can only conclude this is a thinly veiled public relations exercise with a pre-determined outcome that we’ve been reading about on the front pages of newspapers for months.

It seems the Government has already forgotten the shameful legacy of Windrush. Just weeks ago, the Home Office signed a legal agreement requiring the department to properly consider the impacts of its policies on the groups of people they affect. It is our view that the Home Office has already failed to meet this commitment.

This Government already punishes refugees at every turn. Instead of fixing this injustice, they are doubling down on it. They are planning to leave traumatised people stuck in refugee camps on UK soil or in dangerous situations abroad. Their proposals are cruel, unjust and deadly.

“We believe in a caring and connected society, where everyone is included, and we can all thrive. These plans are a direct threat to that society. We will oppose them at every possible stage, and keep building the future we believe in.”

This letter is signed by the following parties:

#Together100
Abigail Housing
African Rainbow Family
All Out
Anti-Slavery International
ASIRT (Birmingham)
ASSIST Sheffield
Asylum Link Merseyside
Asylum Matters
Asylum Support Appeals Project
Asylum Welcome (Oxford)
Association of Visitors to Immigration Detainees (AVID)

Bail For Immigration Detainees
Baobab Women’s Project CIC
BeHarrogate District of Sanctuary
Belfast Islamic Centre
Belfast Multi-Cultural Association
Ben & Jerry’s Europe
Blandford Cares (Dorset)
Boaz Trust
Bradford City of Sanctuary
Bradford Rape Crisis & Sexual Abuse Survivors Service
Bristol Refugee Rights

Cambridge Convoy Refugee Action Group
Cambridge Refugee Resettlement Campaign
Caritas Shrewsbury
CAST-COMMUNITIES AND SANCTUARY SEEKERS TOGETHER (Southend)
Central Asylum Yorkshire
Cheshire, Halton & Warrington Race & Equality Centre
Citizens Advice Rotherham
City of Sanctuary Sheffield
City of Sanctuary UK
Co-Conveners Brighton & Hove Stand Up To Racism
Committee on the Administration of Justice, Belfast
Community Action for Refugees and Asylum Seekers
Croeso Menai Community Sponsorship Group
Cornwall Refugee Resource Network
Coventry Refugee & Migrant Centre

Darlington Assistance for Refugees
Derby City of Sanctuary Network
Derby Refugee Forum
Derbyshire Refugee Solidarity
Detention Action
Detention Forum
Devon and Cornwall Refugee Support
Displaced People In Action
Doctors of the World
Doncaster Conversation Club
Durham Student Action for Refugees

ECPAT
End Deportations Belfast
English+, Norwich
Enthum Foundation (East Sussex)
Entraide (Mutual Aid)
Ethnic Minority Sports Organisation Northern Ireland
Europe Must Act

Falmouth & Penryn Welcome Refugees
Family Refugee Support Project (GM)
Faversham and Villages Refugee Solidarity Group
Finchley Reform Synagogue
Freedom From Torture
Friends of the Drop-in for asylum seekers and refugees (FODI), Sunderland

Galeforce Productions Universal CIC
GARAS (Gloucester)
Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group
Govan Community Project
Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit
Growing Together Levenshulme

Hastings Community of Sanctuary
HASVO Harrow
Health Energy Advice Team (Liverpool)
Helen Bamber Foundation/Asylum Aid
Heart4Refugees, Wirral
Herts for Refugees
Home4U Cardiff
Hope and Aid Direct (Essex)
Hope and Dignity Hearth (Sheffield)
Horn of Africa People’s Aid Northern Ireland (HAPANI)
Host Nottingham
House of Guramayle
House Of Rainbow CIC (London)
Hull Help for Refugees
Humans for Rights Network

Institute of Race Relations
Ipswich and Suffolk Council for Racial Equality

JCORE (Jewish Council for Racial Equality)
Jesuit Refugee Service UK
Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI)
Justice First – Stockton
Kent Refugee Action Network
Khai Tzedek CIC (Stoke)

LASS Lesbian Asylum Support Sheffield
Learn for Life Enterprise
Leeds Asylum Seekers Support Network
Leicester City of Sanctuary
Lesbian Immigration Support Group
Lewisham Refugee and Migrant Network
LGBT+ Consortium
Liberal Democrats for Seekers of Sanctuary
Light Up Black and African Heritage Calderdale
Liverpool City of Sanctuary

Manchester Migrant Solidarity
Manchester Refugee Support Network
Manuel Bravo Project
Mary Seacole House
Mary Thompson Fund
Maryhill Integration Network, Glasgow
Maternity Action
Medical Justice
Mermaids
Merseyside Law Centre
Merseyside Refugee Support Network
Micro Rainbow
Mid Wales Refugee Action
Migrant Action
Migrant Advisory Service (Kingston)
Migrant Advocacy Service
Migrant Voice
Migrants at Work (Oxford)

NACCOM
New Beginnings Project, Blackburn YMCA
New Routes Integration (Norwich)
North of England Refugee Service
North West Migrants Forum
Northern Ireland Women’s Budget Group
Norwich City of Sanctuary
Notre Dame Refugee Centre
Nottingham & Notts Refugee Forum
Nottingham Arimathea Trust

One and All Aid
Ozanne Foundation

PAFRAS
Penrith and Eden Refugee Network
Plymouth Hope
Positive Action in Housing
Pro Refugee Alliance
Project 17 (London)

Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network

Rainbow Home
RAS Voice
Reading Refugee Support Group
Reclaim the Agenda
Refugee Action
Refugee Action in Somerset East
Refugee Action Kingston
Refugee Compassion (Ayelsbury)
Refugee Rights Europe
Refugee Roots, Nottingham
Refugee Support Group, South Somerset
Refugee Women Connect (Liverpool)
Refugees Welcome Committee (Ken and Chel)
Rene Cassin
ReportOUT
Restore, a project of Birmingham Churches Together
Right to Remain
Ripon City of Sanctuary
Rural Refugee Network

Safe in Scotland
Safe Passage
Safety4Sisters North West
Sahir House
Samphire
SHARE (Supporting and Helping Asylum seekers and Refugees) Knowsley
South Yorkshire Refugee Law & Justice
Sanctuary on Sea (Brighton and Hove City of Sanctuary)
Scottish Refugee Council
ShipShape Health and wellbeing
Shropshire Supports Refugees
Solace Leeds
South Yorkshire Migration and Asylum Action Group
South Yorkshire Refugee Law & Justice
Southwark Day Centre for Asylum Seekers
St Augustine’s Centre, Halifax
Stafford Welcomes Refugees
Stonewall Equality
Student Action for Refugees
Sussex Interpreting Services

Tees Valley of Sanctuary
The Bridge + (Norfolk)
The Oasis Centre, Gorton
The Refugee Buddy Project Hastings, Rother & Wealden
The Voice of Domestic Workers
The Welcoming Association, Edinburgh, Scotland
The Well Multi-Cultural Resource Centre Glasgow
Theatre Company of Sanctuary (Southampton)
Thousand 4 £1,000
Time to be Out (York)
TransgenderNI
Trinity Safe Space, Halton
Trinity Safe Spaces, Runcorn and Widnes

UK Lesbian and Gay Immigration Group (UKLGIG)
UK Welcomes Refugees
Upbeat Communities

Vauxhall Community Law Centre
Voices in Exile
Voices in Exile (Brighton and Sussex)

Waging Peace
Wakefield District City of Sanctuary
Wandsworth Welcomes Refugees
Welsh Refugee Council
West End Refugee Service
Westminster Justice and Peace Commission
Wiltshire For Refugees
Wirral Change
Women for Refugee Women
Women With Hope
Women’s Resource and Development Agency (Northern Ireland)

Yarl’s Wood Befrienders
Young Roots

How did the designer process this? “Their proposals are cruel, unjust and deadly.” Surely these organisations have more knowledge on the subject than the designer? They are clearly concerned. When the plan hit the news outlets and more concerns, from more sources, started to air, did any of the team resign?

This information was easily available to the designer. If they were handed the brief in the morning, they could search online for this information at lunch time. If they received the brief in the afternoon, then they could find this information that night. Could we imagine that the team received the brief and the turn over was so fast that they didn’t have time to consider the implications? Within The Cabinet Office Digital team is there any room to boycott a given brief?

NEUTRAL POLITICAL COMMUNICATIONS?

What is the role of social media for a sitting government? To question policy? Communicate policy? Discuss or inform on the impact of policy? Aren’t there more democratic, productive and open ways that we could use these platforms rather than streaming propaganda? If those involved in political policy and those communicating it can’t behave in a sensible way, maybe we should play them at their own game and take away their toys?

In 1988, Fritz Gahagan, a former marketing consultant for US big tobacco, provided insight into the fundamental paradox faced by the tobacco industry: “The problem is how do you sell death? How do you sell a poison that kills 350,000 people per year, 1000 people a day?”

Television advertising of tobacco products was banned in the UK in 1965 under the Television Act 1964, which was later reinforced by an EU directive in the 1980s. The Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002 banned the direct and indirect advertising or promotion of tobacco products. In May 2016, the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 introduced tighter restrictions in relation to certain vaping products and electronic cigarettes. Standardised packaging for these products has been required since this time.

Could we imagine a system where political messaging was allowed one statement, had to be fact checked and had to be set in Helvetica and this could only be presented in black and white? This is a what if? proposition. Here’s another what if? Imagine a world where we all cared more about the lives of those other than us. A world where creatives believed that they had a role in society to question our norms and values and to express this investigation through their creativity, for the benefit of our culture. This requires as much discipline as it requires creativity. It does require some brave decisions at some points and some risk at others but the rewards are worth it. The rewards can be life affirming. They get us closer to the truth and occasionally these interventions become part of our cultural history. They become a flag in the sand, a clarion call urging us to do better.

THE CALL TO ACTION BIT

This is the end of the article and it’s the time where we think about a suitable call to action. This is traditionally a message and a link to somewhere that’s related to the subject. But this time its a different kind of call to action and it’s just this: before you hit save, just stop and think. Are you doing the right thing?

Graffio Arts 4/25/22 Graffio Arts 4/25/22

Aliens, NFTs and the Art of Sharing

As the land grab for virtual assets continues, 18 ALIENS is a light hearted experiment in physical and virtual sharing.

18 ALIENS & ARtv

18 ALIENS was a light hearted experiment in physical and virtual sharing. We gave away 18 sets of aliens on a first come, first served basis at Beta X in Leicester in March 2022.

Concept, design + production: Graffio Arts. Pixels: Jonathan Feuillet. 3D objects + animation: Jack Ellis. The brains behind the Beta X project: Seed Creativity. Funding: LCB. Beta X project manager: Ady Alexander.

WHAT IS ARtv?

ARtv is an augmented reality content delivery system. Show video or activate 3D objects whenever you point your mobile device at an ARtv symbol. Each symbol can be unique and each can deliver it’s own content. A symbol could be a picture, a graphic or a logo.

Symbols can be displayed anywhere that you can imagine - on a poster, a wall or even as a tattoo. If you’d like to find out how you could use ARtv for your project, then get in touch.

18 ALIENS AT BETA X

These aliens have no monetary value and are comprised of pixels. Each alien was presented as an augmented reality marker on a series of cards. These cards can be shared with friends, family or random strangers, as you see fit, sharing your ownership of the alien. Anyone that owns a card can download the Graffio AR app and point it at the card to summon their alien from a galaxy far away!

The concept of virtual ownership is becoming more and more a part of our daily lives. When viewing a movie, we used to purchase a physical product, like a DVD. Now, it is more common to pay a gatekeeper to allow us to stream content. In this interaction, we no longer own a physical object and our access to the content may only be for a limited time. Virtual properties in virtual worlds continue to develop in terms of status and real monetary value.

Crypto currencies are on the rise and NFT systems, designed to protect the intellectual property rights of creators are now a part of a frenzied land grab of virtual assets. Meta seeks to control our experience of the Metaverse. As these new frontiers continue to develop should we stand back and ask what we want from virtual worlds? How do we want to interact with each other? What do we value? Is it all about individual or corporate ownership? Remember when we used to share?

THE POSTERS

ALIEN PERSONALITIES

To establish the idea that each alien was an individual and worthy of collection, each alien had a backstory created. These were brief introductions with a name and a biography that was part hard sci-fi and part, a tongue-in-cheek riff on popular culture.

ALIEN BEHAVIOUR

The aliens had individual sounds, breathed and performed different actions when touched. Some would react if you got within a certain distance from them.

AUGMENTED REALITY AND YOU

A new world is opening up and if things play out in the ways that we are told that they will, it will have an enormous impact the ways that we do things. The increased use of augmented reality technology into our every day lives will likely be accelerated by brands like Apple that are investing huge sum of time and money into transforming our relationship with their current technology. We know this stuff is coming and its likely that we’re going to be using it as an addition or substitute for the technology that we current use. The day that augmented reality glasses become adopted as a mainstream device, is the day where mobile phones may start to look the quaint product of a previous generation.

The 3D aliens in this project use technology that is only currently, universally available on Apple devices although large parts of the project also worked on Android devices. We tend to create projects that have mixed functionality, so that they are as inclusive as possible.

If you’re interested in using some form of AR for a project, we can help you work through the kind of options available. Once you understand the basics and the limitations become clear, the fun starts as you consider all the things that you could do. There is incredible potential for new types of engagement, user journeys, brand associations and relationships to physical locations with augmented reality.

Want to do something incredible with AR? Tell us what you want to do!

Graffio Arts 3/10/22 Graffio Arts 3/10/22

Introducing Jack Ellis

A 3D design focused internship leading to Jack working on his first live project at Beta X.

Design + animation: Jack Ellis. Mentoring: Graffio Arts. Video interview recorded by Aidan Matthews. Editing by Jonathan Fuillet.

Jack is a recent Digital Media Graduate from University of Lincoln and spent six months at Institute Research Lab on a Kickstart Internship. This is what happened…

We were familiar with the kind of folio that Jack turned up with. It’s often the case that young 3D modellers tend to gather in online communities that are linked to the game industry and other markets but don’t get the opportunity to develop a broader understanding of their practice.

We brought a specific premise to the table with Jack- creating 3D models is an alternative way of drawing or a virtual way to build. So what should you be drawing or building? To answer that a good starting point is to look at what creatives are dealing with in other areas of the arts. We bombarded Jack with concepts from across the arts and his understanding of why other creatives do the things they do, started to develop. Jack started to see how his work could be valuable in a host of different situations.

Jack really wanted to develop his 3D modelling abilities so he stuck with the 3D modelling program, Blender and explored it’s limits as we threw progressively more involved work at him.

When we can, we like to get interns to work on live projects. In this situation we ensure that there’s plenty of time available to develop the project, we create a back-up plan in case things get tricky for them and we make sure that their contribution to the project develops their practice and provides work for their folios.

Before we could get started we had to finish getting the lab ready to open it’s doors. We asked if he’d like to start after all the renovations were finished or if he’d like to help us with this. Jack chose the later and spent a month working with us pulling up flooring, painting and cleaning. By the time that was done, we were very grateful and he was itching to get on with some ‘real’ work.

Jack created an accurate scale model of the physical space.

The first project was the model and animate a virtual version of the lab. We set some parameters- it all had to be black and white and it had to fit a visual language we’d been developing for lab promotion.

The TV avatars float through the space as they engage with their mysterious research.

Jack completed a site survey of the physical space and then set to work modelling it. Jack explored the idea of avatars using analogue TVs that are in use in the physical space and used icons that represent the senses on the screens of these TVs as if the virtual members of the lab are conducting media research. Modelling in black and white with no grey that would help to show the form of objects was quite a challenge. Adding white lines to this of varying thicknesses just added to the complications.

Studio 2 is a flexible workspace. Jack showed the different ways that the space could be arranged with animation.

With each new challenge, we outlined the problem and asked Jack to find a way to tackle it. We were blown way by Jack’s ability to solve problems and his open mindedness and flexibility towards his work.

A fly through of the 18 alien models.

The alien models as part of 18 ALIENS at Beta X. Editing by Jonathan Fuilllet.

Each of the aliens had it own style of movement to represent it’s personality.

The second project was 18 ALIENS. This project had a tighter time limit. Jack worked quickly to create and animate 3D models based on sprites created by Jonathan Fuillet. Each alien was rigged to ‘breathe’ as well as having its own movement system.

Both of these projects were in some degree, experimental in nature but as Jack’s confidence developed he began to take this kind of work in his stride.

We wish Jack the very best of luck for the future. If you have potential work opportunities for Jack, you can contact him here. We have internship, collaboration and co-working opportunities for other outstanding creatives. If you are a young creative with an impressive folio then get in touch.

Graffio Arts 1/31/22 Graffio Arts 1/31/22

Augmented Reality and a Sense of Place

How does graphic design in the urban environment affects your sense of place and how this might change through increased use of AR technology? Discuss!

As part of Design Season and hosted at LCB Depot in Leicester , we were asked to take part in a talk with Dr Robert Harland from Loughborough University and Dr Sean Clark from Interact Digital Arts. We were asked to consider how graphic design in the urban environment affects your sense of place and how this might change through increased use of Augmented Reality technology.

THE PROPOSITION

How does graphic design in the urban environment affect your sense of place? How is this changing through increased use of Augmented Reality technology? What new opportunities does this create for artists and designers? These questions and more will be discussed during this free session involving Dr Robert Harland from Loughborough University, Sean Clark from Interact Digital Arts and the directors of Graff.io Arts. There will also be the launch of Cuttlefish Mapps, a new locally-developed platform for distributing location-based content.

INTRODUCTION

This was the perfect chance for us to unravel our thoughts & idea's about the impact that Augmented Reality will have on communication, the art & design world and culture. Designers are starting to realise that with UX design that there are social/well being implications for their decisions so another discipline in the area of ethics should be brought to the table. With galleries like the V&A experiencing almost x10 the traffic online now, will AR help bring traffic from an online world to experience the physical? Will a city retain the rights to an augmented or virtual world or are we to expect a "land grab" on markers - who is in control? This was also a chance to unveil the Beta for our new Graff.io Arts Augmented Reality app & to demo it on a series of AR artworks.

AN EXCERPT OF THE TALK

We've looked into Augmented Reality and we've thought how do you do this? We've looked into apps that are avail & different technologies, The only way that we could find to really do it is to collab with @swipeandtap. A Leicester based tech company building a prototype Augmented Reality app with us.

We've got some pictures, we can show you some examples of augmented layers later.

We are GA. Small co based in Loughborough, there's only four of us. We do a lot of creative collabs. We say that we're an art shop. This is our opening statement, written about two months ago, And we're finding that it's already out of date.

We are exploring these new areas, which encompass the kind of things that are coming up within that shop experience. If you go to a museum & you're dealing with art in a museum. Or if you're dealing with a shop and you're buying online. There are all these different channels & projects coming up. We've met Sean Clark and formed Gallery Without Walls together. We have Robert ( quote ). There's a lot happening right now locally in Leicestershire. I've worked in London for many years & I'm so glad that I've come back here. I've worked in London for over 20 years and I'm so glad I moved back here - I'm seeing more doors opening here & more easily and more accessibly here.

One of our company agenda's is how can do innovative creative collabs & projects here and not go bankrupt! We're looking at ways of doing this and working out if there are ways possible to stop the "brain drain". Is there any way of doing collaborative projects here and not have to move to the capital. Get as much going on locally as possible.

We've got issues here: We say we are an art shop and we sell online. We also have a problem here where we talk about the real word. What is the real world ?

So we are finding ways that a company, that's traditionally a certain kind of art shop has to change and emerge and go forward. We're looking at all the steps around looking at art and experiencing art and all the things involved in that and how we might have to change with it. That's why we're interested in AR and XR tech, because there are all these different layers.

So this sums up where we're at right now, the genie is out of the bottle! This new tech means things will never be the same.

With Minecraft & Pokemon, the kids are all used to it's commercial. Within the arts, I've been into this since William Gibson in the 90's. It's been in the creative sci-fi and cyber punk mind set for a long time. Now the tech is here for us to finally get on with it !

If we are a company thats looking at selling art or dealing with art, and how does that relate to how a museum or a gallery would deal with it? And the core journeys to experiencing art.

So how do we find out about art?

If there's an exhibition on or a print is online for sale, you don't just wake up and a canvas it lands on your head! you have to find out that it exists. In the analogue world, you might see a physical advert on a bus or get a leaflet & other physical ways that you find out that something's available?

If we were selling stuff online, this might come from a facebook ad or a comment somewhere. If it's a gallery they're putting money into leaflets or it's word of mouth. ~There's all these things going on behind the scenes.

Then how do you decide to see it? If you're online, you might click it - or not. In the analogue space this would be able your initial experience of walking into a gallery space and experiencing the architecture etc. And your REAL experience of the art.

Then your real experience of the work. At this point, we could be looking at how Augmented reality could be used to add more layers to the art. So where you needed for example Paul McCartney to sing there, we could add another layer, we could add Paul McCartney! If it was a painting, we could add an overlay through your phone to give more information about that artist. These things are real tools that help industry and help the arts in different ways. This could be able art or the arts, but we might end up needing teams of people.

So where Robert is talking about physical cities, you've got town planners then engineers, then signage...

If you’d like to talk to us about any of these themes, including augmented reality, gives us a call or email us here.

Graffio Arts 1/24/22 Graffio Arts 1/24/22

Spatial 3D AR Development with Flexi-Modal TV

Experiments in 3D Augmented Reality.

Media technology: Graffio Arts. 3D model/animation: dspall

We have been working with Wigflex and Flexi-Modal TV on some augmented reality installations for the Wigflex City Festival. There are some incredible people involved (listed below) and we’ll let you know more as things progress.

A NEW WAY TO DO 3D IN AUGMENTED REALITY

The prototyping shown here takes advantage of the transparency features of augmented reality for iOS. You are viewing a video file of an animated 3D model rather than a 3D model sitting with the space. The model had previously been animated and rendered. This animated video is playing on the screen with a transparent background giving the appearance of a 3D object.

Notice the people walking behind the iPad screen, clearly visible through the transparency of the video. When you want to define how a 3D scene should appear within a space, this is a very practical way to curate the size and relationship to the viewer. For projects where interaction with the object, control of behaviours and size should be in the viewers hands as priority, then real 3D models are the way to go. See our 18 ALIENS project for an example of this.

FESTIVAL MUSIC

Actress, Adam Curtain, Adam Pits, Aicha Audiobahn, Ben UFO, Call Super, Congi, Coralie, Daisy Godfrey, Danielle, Darc City, Daseplate, desmond, Dudley Strangeways, Frost, Geoim, G3CKO, GiGi FM, Hizatron, Ido Plumes, JAY, Kay Fabe, Kassian, Kiara Scuro, Lisene, LNR, Lone & Esqueezy, Lukas Wigflex, LvndLxrd, Metaphi, Midland Niks presents the best of black bandcamp unreleased featuring: NVST, Parris, Peach fuzz, Peder Mannerfelt, Perspective, Pete Beardsworth, R.O.S.H, Snowy, Son of Philip, Sonja Moonear, Stem, Sybertekh, Tamer Sallam, Toe Syszlak, Unbound, Vandall and Yazmin Lacey.

FESTIVAL VIDEOS, ART AND PERFORMANCE

Alice Nimier, AVVA Studio, Baba Swettham, Diogo Olivero, Dspall, Gabriel Balagué, Julia de Martino, Ixian Optical, Manjit Sahota, Marija Marc, Mathilde Avogadro, Multimodal, NINA NANA, Oil Productions, Olly animator, Poets Against Racism, Prefix studios, Render Gal, Simone Salvatici, Will Plowman and the award winning artist Wolfgang Buttress.

Graffio Arts 1/23/22 Graffio Arts 1/23/22

An Exhibition about Technology and Worthless Art

More and more of our experience of the world is going to be mediated and that includes our experience of the arts.

We were asked by LCB if we had anything for an exhibition for their Lightroom Gallery. AREXTRA Street had just launched as posters aimed at the general public. Those posters were printed onto durable, self-adhesive vinyl, designed to be plastered across empty shop windows. How would we take that into a gallery situation? Would it be appropriate?

FROM THE STREET TO THE GALLERY

AREXTRA [Street version] was a vehicle that used augmented reality to increase exposure to the arts for the general public. This was a system where people walking through the streets of the city could experience the arts without having to visit a gallery. The audience had now changed and now expected to be confronted by the arts.

This was an opportunity to engage with some of the big questions that arise from augmenting art. In this situation a 2D representation of the work is recognised by the technology and used as the platform for augmentation. Traditionally a piece of work within a gallery is considered to be an object. That object is assumed to be loaded with cultural worth. A set of factors are used to agree a monetary worth.

Augmented reality doesn’t play by these rules.

A painting, traditionally using a canvas as the place where paint is applied is now read as an image. Our understanding, development and agreed rules of engagement with painting have changed over time. It could be argued that painting was used in illustrative terms, as imagery at certain points in history but through the 20th century we have developed a sophistication and engagement that recognises the application of paint to a surface as a the battleground where an artists fights through their practice.

The results of this are hung on a wall where this creative fight, the development of their practice is evidenced and forms part of a larger conversation.

AR ignores the physicality of the work and uses a snapshot as the basis for something else. The viewers experience is largely of this something else.

To draw attention to these issues we stripped the art of traditional cultural and monetary value- we called each piece a marker (the thing that AR technology recognises). We printed these onto sheets of paper of a unified size and pinned them to the wall. After the exhibition these sheets of paper had performed their job and were destroyed. Viewers could view the exhibition with our AR app and explore the augmented reality layers- the new focus for this work in this context.

We used Lewis Carroll’s excerpt from Alice in Wonderland to highlight the idea that the genie is out of the bottle. New media technology continues to change the way we interact with the world around us. More and more of our experience of the world is going to be mediated and that includes our experience of the arts.

How would we like to proceed?

THE MARKERS

Graffio Arts 12/12/21 Graffio Arts 12/12/21

SIX EMPTY SHOPS, SIX CREATIVES, SIX NEW GALLERIES...

A ground-breaking augmented reality exhibition within the streets of the city. You’ll never look at shop windows in quite the same way again…

A ground-breaking augmented reality exhibition within the streets of the city. You’ll never look at shop windows in quite the same way again…

A WINDOW TO REALITY

A Window to Reality is a public art project that is turning town centre shop windows into a walk-by augmented reality (AR) gallery.

The project demonstrates how new technologies, collaboration and fresh thinking can unlock public spaces as hybrid commercial and creative locations for the betterment of all.

Engaging directly with the decline of town centre shopping the project repurposes the windows of disused shops. The windows are turned into portals for viewing art. Through this project the streets of the city become an alternative, curated venue for broader, unexpected exposure to the arts.

HOW THE TECHNOLOGY WORKS

The viewer is presented with an artwork, the portrait and information about the artist. When they point their mobile device at the artwork, an AR layer allows them to see the creation of the work with an audio commentary by the artist.

By pointing a digital device with the Graffio Arts app at the art on the windows and extra layer of reality appears.

Viewers are shown the artist creating the work with an audio description by the artist. Viewers are offered a glimpse of creativity often reserved for a gallery space as they go about their daily lives. The combination of convenience and the exposure to the creative practice of artists seeks to flatten the learning curve often associated with engagement and the understanding of the arts.

“The project demonstrates how new technologies, collaboration and fresh thinking can unlock public spaces as hybrid commercial and creative locations for the betterment of all.”

UNUSUAL SUSPECTS MEET THE SELECTED CREATIVES

Six creatives across the arts spectrum have been selected for the project. The selection was based on the quality of their work as well as taking into consideration the potential help that extra exposure could add to their developing careers and creative practice.

Each of the six creatives were given the opportunity to label themselves, to create a persona for their performance, a way that they felt they should be identified to the public. On the following pages are a glimpse of the window banners of three of the six creatives.

We have chosen a selection of creatives at different points within their career and worked with them to deliver a piece of work that fits within the scope of the project but is also flexible enough to fit their developing practice. We aim to showcase them in a way that engages viewers and offers an insight into the creative process.

**TAYLER FISHER**
THE MIXED MEDIA ARTIST

VIEWING THE EXHIBITIONS

The city window installations will only be available for a limited time (Winter 2019- Spring 2020). The details for the location of each is listed below accompanied by a video mock-up that simulates the high street viewers experience.

THE EXHIBITIONS

Installation 001

Kris Trigg recently completed his piece and his work is now viewable for a limited period ( Winter 2019 /early 2020 only ) The old Burtons 19-21 Market Place, Loughborough, LE11 3EB

Installation 002

A Window to Reality #002 was from @Mistabreakfast AKA Mono, also known as Leigh Drummond. You can view Mono's work at: The old Poundland, Loughborough for Winter 2019/20 only.

Installation 004

Installation 003

A Window to Reality #003 was from Taylor Fisher from Modern Painters, New Decorators. Tayler Fisher's piece is live for a limited period, for 2019/early 2020 only get down to Modern Painters, New Decorators - Unit 33, Carillon Court, Loughborough LE11 3XA.

A Window to Reality #004 was completed with Jay Clarke on the 21st January 2020. If you're in Loughborough, you can view Jay's work in Carillon Court- it's only up until the end of Feb 2020.

Installation 006

Installation 005

A Window to Reality #005 was from Liam Proudman. You can view Liam's work at: The Old Hospital Ct, Loughborough LE11 1TH for Winter 2019/20 only.

A Window to Reality #006 In-situ - Agata Tomaszek Agata's installation, at the old Poundland, Loughborough. We are executing six in total from a local artists. We record the performance, it can then be re-watched again in Augmented reality, and using the Graff.io Arts AR app. Find out more - https://graff.io/ar-city

THE PERFORMANCES

For the performance each artist wore a distinct white working wardrobe or a white version of their clothes. This was to highlight the alternative reality version of their overlaid selves and to allow focus on their work as they moved in front of it during the creation process. We were pleasantly surprised by how little persuasion it took to get six artists to dress up.

COLLABORATION PARTNERS

Graffio Arts collaborates with partners to bring the right expertise and skills to make projects happen. We have been lucky to work with some outstanding people on this project...

**Swipe & Tap** APP TECHNOLOGY
Swipe & Tap worked closely with us to develop the augmented reality app. They brought a technical and creative intelligence to the development of a next-generation AR app which is now freely available for iOS and Android.

**James Poole** VIDEO
James and Johnny from James Poole helped us develop the AR video framework for the project. They have been present at every performance to supply and set-up equipment, advise on the video production, lighting and editing.

**Hannah Bodsworth** PHOTOGRAPHY
Hannah brought her expertise to producing a series of themed but distinct portrait shots that were crucial for establishing the personas of the involved creatives. As the project has developed, Hanna’s studio became the perfect hub for developing the performances.

Graffio Arts 1/3/21 Graffio Arts 1/3/21

MONO DREAMS OF ELECTRIC SHEEP

MONO discusses A Window to Reality.

A Window to Reality #002 THE GRAFFITI WRITER featured Leigh Drummond, aka Mono. His performance comprised of completing a multi-layered Blade Runner inspired mural in spray paint at our studio. After the performance we sat down to discuss the project…

THE INTERVIEW

“ I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.”

— Roy Batty [Bladerunner, 1982]

This interview was conducted between Mono and Graffio Arts in Dec 2019.

What was your initial thinking with the project?

As it's being filmed and it creates an interactive animation, or piece of AR that could be viewed (which is unusual) then I though that it could be more about the process than the finished piece, to a certain degree. So I wanted to create a story within it, like an event happening within the technique. Not necessary a story, but show what is involved in the process and how that could be displayed as something that is visually exciting and could work back and forth.

Did it give you the chance to work in a different way ?

Definitely. When I do a mural for example, it might get filmed, or not. But to have a record that everyone can see - thats really quite different. It also links in with animation. To put an animation on the internet can be difficult. Whereas artwork with animation that can be viewed in-situ is possibly more powerful & that's interesting to me.

Do you feel that adding AR / XR layers to a piece of artwork is important right now?

Right now, it is, definitely. it's important as we're in a time where viewing things in a non static way is more trending, not just trending but the capabilities are now there. The kit has slowly shrunk down and the platforms are there now, combining it with what I do - something in-situ and offering the potential to view back the history of its creation is a powerful thing.

Surprising for a new tech that it hasn't been pushed to a new level yet. It could be something that we have every day in the future. Some of the potential is interesting. It could affect all art in everyday in every way in the future.

Initial steps at this level are necessary, viable & exciting. There's a lot of experimentation going on. Things haven't been completely taken over, people aren't aware - so there's the chance to impress upon people a new tech that relates to previous things.

Painting murals is a very public art form. To have an extra layer to it, and to not only see the process, but the created product would then be able to be animated, and perhaps monetised of the back of that- they are all interesting possibilities.

Do you think the original Graffiti scene has changed?

Graffiti has changed - Graffiti writers are considered Graffiti artists now. The practice is considered as an art movement in academic terms now. The original ethos of doing it illegally in its purest sense is still there. Things haven't been taken over yet. Graffiti needed to change and evolve to stay interesting. It's spread from it's one form.

I think the original scene is still there though. I mean, CCTV did more damage to the original scene. We need change to prevent things stagnating. If something becomes a repetition of what it was, then it just becomes boring.

XR / AR / VR - it's just another level that is only just coming about. That the kids are extending further.

Can you see a point in the future where all pieces have some kind of XR involved?

Potentially I can see XR used in all pieces in the future. And it may not even be done by the person who did the artwork - ie you just saw the piece on the street - you then create a piece of XR / AR to go around it. It's a possibility - wherever the artist intends that is another matter. The Streets in general will probably become quiet augmented anyway. So who knows?

It could go quiet sci-fi with retinal displays, built into your head & you could be advertised upon when you don't want it. Hopefully that wont happen!

You've touched on something really interesting there - that it may not necessarily be the artist that adds another layer of reality to the artwork...

There's levels within AR, Even just creating a virtual tour could be done in every city and could focus on graffiti. Or it could be all the art in a city - to include graffiti and all the art galleries. That could be done by individuals in the future.

I don't think every piece will be created with the intension of having an AR focus. To understand the process, sometimes you have to go backwards. I personally do a lot of very stark, simple artwork, in the form of drawing and sketching, to go back to the root. Sometimes all you've got it just a mark and a surface. It's nice to have the ability to do that anywhere. Having the reliance on digital software could become a reliance, then generations could loose old skills.

A Window to Reality is taking high street spaces & gives artists the chance to do something which can be used as an augmented reality layer. What were your intensions in doing an installation in a small space?

The first thing we have is the scale - Graffiti is normally done on a large scale - which can be easier. Working small you have to you other techniques - that alters the way the artwork goes - slightly. The AR gave me the chance to work differently - so the chance to add more process than usual. Overlaying and showing a more dynamic creation from the beginning, starting with things that I wouldn't normally do - ie to create 4D artwork. As time is involved. Needed to be more than the image - it needs lots of layers.

So there is a 4th dimension in AR. The overall image is larger but then end image is smaller. So I can expand outwards and work towards a smaller point.

Any commentary on the empty shops on the high street?

Empty shops is happening everywhere. A big factor of that is Internet based shopping. But also we are living in a time where people maybe want more out of the high street. They it stagnating in other ways - not just in shopping - the shops are still there. But there's a lot of other aspects - life has now changed - people want to have these interactive experience a lot more.

We have had the standard of the hi-street, since Victorian times (and pre)- that has changed. We are still at the beginning - we don't know where this could go. This is an interesting beginning -we have a lot of empty space on the hi streets and people don't really know what do do yet. So it cold create a lot of interest.

It could give something to the people where so they can have a visual ref of where they're been - you could create an actual activity for people to partake in.

Hi streets are failing. Not just because of online shopping. there's more to it - the whole high street just does need modernising.

If society is completely evolving, does it feel like we're going to have to go back to basics, where towns and cities become a place to bring their goods to market, a more experimental place to commune and interact on a physical level.

It could be very necessary as well as if people are on the digital world not communing it could be very detrimental for mental health. So having areas to go, not just bars to go to. We have had museums, but where do we go next? We might go backwards for a bit - We don't know yet! In some ways, this isn't any different from anything that happened in the past - as it feels new now but in the future it will just be another change that we had to go through.

Do you think that the arts can add to society’s wellbeing?

I think the arts are aspirational - perhaps born of decadent society where people have the chance to create art freely. But having this opportunity to do things freely - maybe we should create things which are for the public more -there is a certain amount of responsibly which can be ignored, but it's nice not to!

That's what I love about Graffiti jams - the feeling, the energy levels seem to change in the space.

Again, perceptions from the public help - so when they go to a jam, they no longer feel threatened. It's a back and forth thing - they go to a jam and realise that these people aren't just criminals. They are just trying to express themselves.

Graffio Arts 1/3/21 Graffio Arts 1/3/21

TAYLER FISHER'S SENSORY OVERLOAD AESTHETIC

Taylor Fisher discusses A Window to Reality

A Window to Reality #003 was from Taylor Fisher from Modern Painters, New Decorators. His dub infused, mixed media install was completed in Jan 2020 at our Canal House studio as part of AR City: A window to reality. We executing six in total from a local artists. We record the performance, it can then be re-watched again in Augmented reality, and using the Graff.io Arts AR app. The following interview was conducted between Taylor Fisher and Andy Harper from Graff.io Arts. Check the interview on Graff.io Arts: https://graff.io/blogs/ar-city/

A Window to Reality #003 featured Tayler Fisher with a dub infused, mixed media performance. After the performance we sat down to discuss the project…

THE INTERVIEW

How do you feel about the project so far?

It's good. Different. It's good for me as well. I recently joined with new studio space & my work has changed a lot since I've been there over a few months.

I've developed a lot - but now I feel like I'm at a point here where I know what it is, I know what the language of it is. So it's good to have the challenge of doing something different. I've now got to apply what I've been figuring out so far...

I've heard you work with soundscapes & music? ( ~2.45 mins )

Sound has always been a big element there. For me it's working on these things its never just one things, there's always the influence of all the stuff around it- it's never just the painting or sculpture. So In the past - working for my degree show, I was messing on the side.

Do you start with the sound first or the visual art first? ( ~3:40 mins )

I think it depends what it is - a lot of the time I'm visually based - that might give me an idea to do a sound thing - once I've got into that realm of the soundscapes- then the sounds start themselves. To add to what I was saying - it's all about building the bigger world around the work - bigger soundscape and a bigger landscape. it's not just about the figures or the subject that's are in the work - it's about the bigger world that's been put across.

Tell us about your new studio space? (~1min)

I'm at Modern painters, New Decorators - it's in ( Loughborough ) town They've setup a gallery space and now there's studio space upstairs.

You mentioned that your studio has changed your practice, what do you think has happened since you've started there? ( ~1.5 min )

I thought I was working one way during my degree - for a long while. I felt that my work started to become a bit stagnant and didn't have the best studio setup - as a result my practice slowed down a little bit. So then when it came to sorting out a studio space with MPND - it became a good opportunity to try out these new ideas I've had floating around in my sketchbook. But the biggest thing has been colour. I've not really used much colour in the past - and now its all really deliberately contrasting colours. Trying to channel this really borderline - sensory overload aesthetic.

So you've got 4 hours to do an installation right here - you've got limited time - how do you feel about the space or time constraints? ( ~5mins )

Initially I was worried - because working with paint - you've got to think about drying times. Usually in the studio you've got big times between making things. I gave it some thought and in my studio. A lot of the time I'm working on paper, sometimes I work straight onto the canvas. I think I'm going to approach this - making different elements and bringing it all together.

Is there an element of free-styling or improvisation? Or do you know exactly what you're going to do on the day? ( ~5.45 mins )

Usually I'll have sketched and plans and sometimes those are looser than others. I got into the work knowing roughly what I'm going to do. So I might get some stencils made for it or I might get some source imagery ready. But once the work is ready to be made.

Does music always accompany you when you're working? ( ~6.5 mins )

I can't work in the quiet. In the studio I've got the record player setup. I've got some of my records there that I try not to chuck paint on! Party because i like the music, part of it is - silence is killer!

You're a traditional artist, how do you feel about the use of modern tech, in this case augmented reality to give the user the chance to rewatch the performance. How does that sit with you as a traditional artist? ( ~8mins )

A lot of the time I'm using a computer - photoshop - making edits of stuff, I've started making a lot of stencils of my work - I've been using a laser cuter to cut some complex stencils. There's an element of when the software it's a bit old - or the laser cutter changes the shape of things- theres some small nuances to it.

I'm always including more digital / tech stuff into the work, that feeds into it. We've talked about sound already..... Especially when we're talking about AR - involving the viewing - that sort of thing - I think in times like today, where mobile phones are at the end of everyones arm - Constantly - Instagram is way more important than it's ever been. Sometimes it's difficult to get the everyday person that isn't usually interested art - sometimes difficult to bridge that gap. But if you can almost approach them on their turf - So if they see something like this, they know they've got their phone, they know they can engage with it, gives them a reason to look at it and interact with it.

That's one of the concepts for AWTR - it presents artwork on the streets & high street and we're trying to get involvement from people that aren't usually interested in art. Everyone is using the tech nowadays - so for anyone to pick up a phone and interact with the art is interesting. in terms of the performance- do you think you're going to be treating it differently from a normal piece? (10 mins )

Usually - I'd just show the finished thing. Usually performance isn't really an important part of my practice. I've thought of the way that I work in my studio and how I could apply that as a visual element. A lot of the time when I'm painting I'm using printing techniques & using other bits of paper - which I'll then add to the canvas on the board. So, in this project, it turns what is usually only seen in a private studio / work in progress into something that people can engage with... So yeah, it should work.

Window to reality, using empty shops on hight street, to give artists the opportunity to display their work publicly, in an effort to show something different - any comments ( ~12 min )

I've never known Loughborough to have so so many empty units. Which, is a shame. I think a lot of that is a symptom of the times we're in. A lit of the time, people are held behind super high fees that landlords want to charge - because for the longest time, they could charge them.

I makes it hard for anyone to jump in, open a small shop. Obviously as this project shows, it offers up an opportunity to do something with those spaces. It's nice that you can use a town centre in a different way. Doesn't have to just be about reality or shopping .

In one sense, it's a shame that there's a lot of empty shop fronts, in another - it could be an opportunity - it could be good thing - as the project is trying to do.

if your work could say something to someone that isn't familiar with the arts, what would you like it to say? ( 13.20 mins )

A lot of the time - my work is trying to take current, personal things & extrapolating.... a lot of the time it's commenting on some of these things that I've mentioned - like empty shop fronts being a symptom of the time. Sometimes my work is trying to be a confrontation to these things - or a way for me to personally work these things out.

https://taylerfisher.com/

“Out of that, these soundscapes started to emerge. I though it could be a good accompaniment to the other work I was making and that turned into a bigger thing...”

— Tayler Fisher