Press Release

Social Hacking: temporary public art commissions for the city of Plymouth

21-24 March 2007

Featuring: commissioned work from The Institute for Applied Autonomy(USA), Mikro Orchestra Project (Poland), and Ludic Society (Austria/Switzerland), at various venues across the city including Plymouth Arts Centre, Plymouth Guildhall and Drake Circus Shopping Centre.

Social Hacking is a series of temporary public art events for Plymouth by international artists’ groups against a backdrop of urban regeneration. The project slogan reflects the ways in which these changes to the city can be further influenced by creative human intervention.

The commissions all respond to the social and cultural context of Plymouth and explore the theme of ‘social hacking’. By using this term, the aim is to extend ideas of hacking beyond the computer to the communicative structures of people, social interactions and the use of public spaces. Presented projects modify popular technologies for creative experimentation and question the distinction between digital space and real public space in the city. Artists ‘hack’ the usual expectations of what public art might look, sound and feel like.

The Mikro Orchestra Project run workshops with young people on how to adapt Gameboy consoles to become musical instruments, resulting in a spectacular 'blip-pop' performance in Plymouth Guildhall generated live from the consoles. The Institute for Applied Autonomy examine the so-called 'special relationship' between the UK and the USA through two projects: a commemorative plaque to the world's first global communications network crash in 1858 and its historical connection to Plymouth; and at Plymouth Art Centre, the installation'Terminal Air'(with Trevor Paglan), a digital world map that visualises the movements of planes involved in 'extraordinary rendition'. From their 'pitstop', Ludic Society construct a 'total conversion' of computer games using American muscle cars (including a rare 1971 Plymouth Roadrunner) and RFID technologies. At Drake Circus Shopping Centre, they present their ‘Tagged City Play’ for Real Players in a Real City.

The event also includes the pre-launch of c6's new Dot Master project 'Mobility in the art market' at the University of Plymouth’s Portland Square building, a Mikroparty at The Hub including performance by Tetine (Brazil) and Mikrokilla & Jura (Poland), project newsroom at Plymouth Arts Centre, artists' run workshops at various venues, The Pirate University at ride café/bar, and a public seminar with McKenzie Wark (AUS/USA) and Saul Albert (UK) at Plymouth City Museum & Art Gallery.

The project is produced by KURATOR in collaboration with i-DAT, and is funded by Arts Council England, South West and Plymouth City Council, with additional support from citylab_plymouth, Deep Blue Sound, Drake Circus Shopping Centre, The Hub, Plymouth Arts Centre, Plymouth City Museum & Art Gallery, Pyramid Presentations, ride café/bar and University of Plymouth.

The project is curated by Birgitte Aga, Geoff Cox, Joasia Krysa, Anya Lewin

For further information on the project, see: http://www.kurator.org/hack

For press information & images, contact: Mandy Barber, mandy at kurator dot org, or telephone Birgitte Aga, 01752 232560

← back