The past month's activities have very much focussed around my exhibition as part of Phoenix Digital. For this I've installed two ArtScanners, run my 'We Are Not Alone' piece in two venues and have had 'Anonymising Webcam' running for almost four weeks.

The work has been well-received and the comments - especially at the two launch events - have been very positive. The next step for me, at least in terms of my MA research, is to learn from this exhibition in order to finalise my main MA piece.

I've already started this process of analysis and am already pretty clear how the 'Autopoiesis I' piece will work.

Firstly, it will use a similar environment to 'We Are Not Alone' (see above). This took place in the Phoenix theatre space, giving very good control of the lighting, as well as providing a wide stage area for user interaction (the stage was basically lit with a single spotlight in the centre).

The work will also use the same video camera/screen configuration as 'We Are Not Alone', allowing the user to interact with the piece via their own life-size image.

Unlike 'We Are Not Alone', the image on the screen will consist of images of the users *plus* pre-recorded images. These images will be video sequences in the style of my 'People Walking' images. I plan to re-record the sequences though this weekend.

Two sources of recorded video images will be combined with the live footage in order to give the viewer a sense of walking, and interacting, with a crowd. Each video stream will respond both to the viewer and the *other* video stream, providing an environment in which three elements interact to create the art-system.

I probably won't make use of face tracking in the MA peice itself (as I had originally planned) but I may use it in the interactive presentation of the work at Camberwell Collage. Alternatively, I may use barcode scanning to drive this presentation. I *really* liked the whole ArtScanner aesthetic of using the barcode scanner to retrieve 'art' images. It's something I want to explore more.

I now need to produce the new piece of work and show it towards the end of April, or early May. I am planning an invitation-only showing of the work. Ideally in a theatre or large gallery space with good lighting.

I ran a second installation of 'We Are Not Alone' at the Phoenix Offsite launch. Interestingly (as I knew would be the case) the very different lighting of this space, compared to the Phoenix Theatre was quite challenging.

The deep, dark space of the theatre was replaced by a much smaller room-size space with while walls which reflected alot of light.

In the end of had to change the work so that it composited the video layers on *white* rather than black. This lead to a very different visual look for the piece, but it still had the playfullness of the Phoenix installation.

An ArtScanner pod has been installed at The Depot at Rutland Street in Leicester. Go to www.artscanner.org to upload your work to the site.

The DNA Sculpture I have been working on with Geoff Broadway is just about finished. After having to get some replacement electrical parts from the USA, Geoff completed the final bit of wiring and the piece is now available for installation. A video of the piece can be seen on my YouTube page.

Friday saw the launch of the Phoenix Digital programme. Together with Tom Hall and Eric Rosoman, I was one of the artists whose work was being featured.

The event was very well attended and seemed to be equally well received. I was particularly pleased with the reception for my 'We Are Not Alone' piece (see above) which was being shown in the main auditorium. The piece overlays six time-delayed live video loops to create a highly-engaging interactive space. I was going to run the video loops on about a two minute delay, but in response to the space I decided to change this to just four seconds between each loop. This was a good move and encouraged much more interaction than I had been expecting. See some pictures from the piece on my Flickr page.

My ArtScanner and Anonymising Webcam pieces also worked well and will be fully documented at the end of the show. For now I'm now trying to promote ArtScanner (www.artscanner.org) as widely as possible to encourage involvement.

seanclark@gmail.com
www.cuttlefish.org

Artist’s Statement

My creative practice is concerned with the creation of digital ‘art-systems’ that explore the relationships between the viewer, the viewed and their environment. I refer to my artworks as ‘art-systems’ since it is the very interaction with them that forms the central structure the work. They are ‘digital’ because I predominantly use digital technology to create my work.

When interacting with my artwork the viewer/participant becomes a integral part of it. They forever change the piece and ensure that it remains in constant motion. In some cases, such as with the pieces Anonymising Webcam and We Are Not Alone, images of the viewer are the sole visual-aesthetic elements of the artwork, with my role as the artist being to create an environment (through the use of digital technology) that allows this visual-aesthetic element to emerge through the interactions of the participants.

In other artworks, such as with ArtScanner, the viewer plays an active part in entering material into the system and facilitating the flow of material between devices and locations. Again, as an artist I have created a system that supports a range of interactions that result in a physical artwork (the environment surrounding the ArtScanner ‘pod’) being created by the viewer/participants.

While engaging with my work I would encourage you to consider the processes you are involved in, and not to simply concentrate on the visual-aesthetic aspects of a piece. Consider how the images on screen arrived at their destination, and how your interaction changes them.

Anonymising Webcam

Most security systems aim to identify us. The Anonymising Webcam attempts to conceal the identity of the people on the screen, whilst simultaneously demonstrating the sophisticated face tracking capabilities of surveillance systems.

We Are Not Alone

We Are Not Alone creates a physical space in which prior interactions can be brought back to the present. The image on the screen is a composite of past and present and reminds us that the past is always with us, not just in our personal memories, but increasingly through the technologies we use. Security cameras, cash machines, search engines and mobile phones can all be used to record our movements and interactions and we are rapidly moving towards a world where everything we do will be recorded in some form.

ArtScanner

ArtScanner allows people to upload images to a Web site and have them displayed in a gallery or exhibition space via the scanning of barcodes. The barcode acts as a gateway between the physical world and the world of computers. Seemingly innocuous, to some they symbolise a world where everything is categorised and our every move is ‘blipped’.

This week I've been preparing for the Phoenix Digital show in Leicester. I plan to document this show fully as part of my final MA assessment which means I've been franticly working to finish everything ready for the private view on Friday! I've been sorting out the artist's statement, publicity materials plus, of course, the artworks themselves. Everything seems to be coming together. See Phoenix Digital for more information.

In order to make the most of publicity surrounding Phoenix Digital I've produced a new Cuttlefish Digital Arts flyer. This is the first bit of print I've done for about three years!

No specific MA blog posts for a few weeks. Instead I've been busy actually doing the work! I've been working on three new pieces for my Phoenix Digital exhibition.

'ArtScanner' is going in a very interesting direction. I'm using barcodes to allow people to display their artworks on a public screen. I think the role of the barcode as a 'connecting' device between the real and 'virtual' worlds is very interesting.

'Anonymising Webcam' is exactly what it says it is. It's an extension of the 'I See You' piece I did last year, with some technical enhancements and reconfigurations.

'We Are Not Alone' is still a bit flexible. I want to create a space where past interactions are brought in to the present through video capture. I need to think about it some more before the idea settles.

I used one of my regular Bulgaria trips to give me a week to focus on my arts work. Despite the cold I got quite a bit done. I'm looking forward to spending some summer time over there later in the year.

...or little computer? Actually, it's the latter. I bought a tiny Asus eee PC from the airport (works out at £180 by the time I get the VAT back) to see what it's like to work with while travelling.

I have to say that on the whole I'm pretty impressed with it. I wouldn't want to write a large report on the tiny keyboard, and the touchpad can be infuriating, but I managed to use it to join an online MA chat session today and found that it works very well with BBC iPlayer Radio.

Skype runs well on it too and the instant messenger client works with MSN messenger and GTalk.

The main problem is that the battery only lasts 3 hours or so. Currently I'm looking to see if I can charge it with my solar panel backpack. While it won't be able to run it in real-time (my panel only gives 6.5W and the eee pc needs 22W to run) it might trickle charge the battery to give me some extra juice on the road...