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 11/13/23 Graffio Arts 11/13/23

Design Jam: Dark Patterns

We recently held our first Design Jam with MA Graphic Design and Visualisation students from Loughborough University.

We recently held our first Design Jam with MA Graphic Design and Visualisation students from Loughborough University. We asked them: what are the changing roles and responsibilities for designers in an era of quasi-intelligent media?

DARK PATTERNS

The Design Jam was designed to fit within the MA courses Dark Patterns module and focused on some of the more questionable aspects of digital media tools and services with a focus on AI.

We broke the day down into two sets of discussion and activity. The first session set the scene but was followed a student research session to uncover potential new tools that might empower the students in their future professional practice. The second session developed the idea of integrity in terms of intent and usage of tools that resulted in the students developing a personal media manifesto.

We had an amazing day. Thanks to the students and staff for showing so much enthusiasm and really engaging with the subject matter. We live in interesting times and it really is up to us to shape the ways that we would like to work with OUR media.

FINDING MEANING

We are living through a complex time and it’s full of contradictions. Generally we are wealthier than we’ve ever been and yet we feel poor. We know that there is rising inequality but we cannot agree on ways to rectify it. We have access to more knowledge than we’ve ever had and yet we cannot solve fundamental issues. As our media has become more open and democratic, we can all have a voice and yet, the things we choose to say fall within increasingly narrow conceptual margins.

For the fist time in history, we are negotiating with our tools. These tools are created by a specific group of individuals, in a certain part of the world. This group includes those that have attended certain courses that have trained them to develop data driven, digital manipulation. That industry is lucrative and where there is money, there are a certain group of people ready to dive in and develop our digital futures. This group will have certain agendas and we are quite aware that the developers of a very social media might, just might, not be the most socially well rounded individuals.

This is the cultural landscape that a new generation of students must navigate as they define for themselves the nature of graphics and develop communications for themselves and for potential clients.

This is a world where brand is god, where marketing is all pervasive and right and wrong is dictated by algorithms. How do you deal with this? How do we prioritise personal agency and develop meaningful brands that accurately reflect business in motion?

IS CODE THE NEW DRAWING?

Those that have been to art college will be familiar with the mantra ‘drawing, drawing, drawing!’. As our digital media develops and our options for communication multiply, wouldn’t it be empowering for creatives to code? With AI assistance, this is now possible. Could creatives build interfaces and could they design systems that build generative identity systems? We are living through a gap between paradigms. There is the world before and after the advent of generative AI. There are incredible opportunities available. Each time we use AI it has the potential to offer up clues for new uses. This progression will be exponential and it’s important for creatives to be engaged in potential developments.

While industry markets creative tools to creatives, it is up to the creative community to find the ways to use the tools to fit their own agendas, within a broader cultural framework.

DEVELOPING MODULES FOR EDUCATION AND INDUSTRY

Institute seeks to help develop communications across disciplines and across the boundaries of education, practice, institution and industry. The more we share our knowledge and skills, the more we all benefit. We have to take cultural contradictions head on and become more collectively proactive as we build our joint futures.

If you’re interested in joining the dots or you’d like us to develop an education module for your course or business then get in touch. We’d love to hear from you.

Graffio Arts 10/22/23 Graffio Arts 10/22/23

Ama Dogbe's Game Engine Art

As a broader demographic has become involved not only in the playing of games but in the development of games, the landscape has shifted…

The tropes and cliches prevalent within the realms of computer gaming have been questioned for many years. As a broader demographic has become involved not only in the playing of games but in the development of games, the landscape has shifted.

This change has been in part powered by the groundswell in the number of quality Independent game studios and the availability of new, powerful and affordable software. When this kind of software becomes available, it doesn’t take much time for creatives to develop an understanding of this new media and imagine new ways to solve old problems. This often includes: how do I express myself?

Make it stand out

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

Ama Dogbe is a young British-Ghanaian artist whose practice sits within digital realms. She has produced experimental animation of various kinds and is currently developing video games using a variety of self-taught digital mediums. The work on show at Institute was created with Unity

We presented two new game demos by Ama: Alien Invasion - No. 1607221 and Alien Invasion - Compartmentalising, as part of an audio-video installation. In Alien Invasion - No. 16072216, figures descend upon a garden-like world, and players follow paths to uncover talismans, relics and icons.

Using physical and digital repetition through photogrammetry (the process of creating 3D digital outcomes from photographs), Ama created a web of symbols that were both strange and familiar. The project was commissioned by MPND and funded by Arts Council England.

This event ran as part of Loughborough Lates, a free event open to the general public. The games ran on Mac computers and through Institutes exhibition screens. They were playable with PS4 controllers. It was intriguing to see children and adults engage with art in ways that they probably never have before.

The controllers would be familiar to some as would some of the game-like mechanics of navigation but the visual language and the use of space and the meaning of symbols were unique and had to be de-cyphered by the user.

There is much that we have learnt over the last few decades from digital gaming. We have created new worlds and developed communities as we populated them with our digital selves. We have negotiated time and money in favour of rewards and we have traded assets that resulted from our digital endeavours. We have become addicted and also frustrated- we have expressed the joy and anger of the physical world in virtual worlds. We’ve made friends and enemies. We’ve built clans, communities and businesses. We’ve stolen, we’ve conned, we’ve married, we’ve grieved. We’ve changed race and gender (often for a fee). We’ve planted crops and harvested them. We’ve built our own houses, developed new mythologies and made friends with people across continents.

As we move forward with VR, AR and the eventual mix of both, it is important that we capitalise on the learnings from gaming- the good and the bad so that we might capture the joy and empowerment that gaming can foster. It is also important that artists are equipped with the software and skills of new media technology as it emerges so that inquisitive, potentially contrarian voices become part of the discourse that develops our digital futures.

You will be able to see an online version of the project between 3rd November 2023 - 27th January 2024. The game is accompanied by a soundtrack of electronic, ambient and contemporary hip-hop by musician Louis Jack. The video game will be available to play via the Modern Painters, New Decorators website.

You can see also see more of Ama’s work here: https://www.instagram.com/artyfartyama/ and download Unity here: Download Unity.

Graffio Arts 8/10/23 Graffio Arts 8/10/23

TERRY MIQUEL IS LOST FOR WORDS

This exhibition is a timely reminder in a culture of screen based media that painting was rarely about imagery…

A retrospective of the work of local artist Thierry Miquel. The exhibition started with recent paintings that were a response to current uncertainties and back through time as Thierry has responded to life, armed with loaded phrases that emerge as part of work that is... constructed.

Thierry started his career in furniture design and you can see that in the work. It's built with paint, and found objects.

Painting was arguably the dominant medium for exploration and expression in the arts. This is a timely reminder in a culture of screen based media that painting was rarely about imagery. It is a fight with materials on the surface on an object. It has meaning in it's form, in its 'construction' and when you stand back from it, you observe a minute in time where the artist left that fight and moved on to the next.

Where should painting go tomorrow? What should we learn from it?

“All my work is based on words. I see an aesthetic beauty in words spoken and written. I love to play with the sound as well as visually dismantling the meaning of the words to create an alternative story or poem”

— Thierry Miquel

This exhibition was part of…

Loughborough Lates: Evening art and culture in town and on campus. Friday 28 April 2023, 6:00-8:00pm, #LoughboroughLates, mpndprojects.co.uk/lates

Loughborough Lates is an event hosted by art and culture venues spread across our town centre and campus. Loughborough will come to life with visual art exhibitions and events - all free to attend and participate in. Maps are available at participating venues on the day.

You can view more of Thierry’s work here: @thierrys_art

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.