Cultivating Urban Ecologies

Sunday, 4 September 2011

Sites to see; things to read too

Embrace the Place - Coordinated by the Tate Britain

BMW Guggenheim Lab - Coordinated by The Guggenheim NYC

Laika's Derive - Coordinated by Sarah Waterson

Blast Theory | Rider Spoke - Coordinated by University of Nottingham & Sony

The Smartest Cites Will Use People As Their Sensors - Scientific American

Still Spotting Manhattan - Coordinated by The Guggenheim NYC

Meridians - Coordinated by Jeremy Wood

Spurse - Multidisciplinary Design Team

Thursday, 1 September 2011

More map reference books

This is great also and could be used as a starting point for some of our investigations.

From Here to There
A Curious Collection from the Hand Drawn Map Association
Kris Harzinski

Reviews and info here

It's a situation we are all acquainted with: planning to visit friends in an unfamiliar part of the city, you draw yourself a rudimentary map with detailed directions. In March 2008, graphic designer Kris Harzinski founded the Hand Drawn Map Association in order to collect just such drawings of the everyday. Fascinated by these accidental records of a moment in time, he soon amassed a wide variety of maps, ranging from simple directions to fictional maps, to maps of unusual places, including examples drawn by well-known historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln, Ernest Shackleton, and Alexander Calder.

From Here to There celebrates these ephemeral documents--usually forgotten or tossed aside after having served their purpose--giving them their due as artifacts representing stories from people's lives around the world. From the Princeton Architectural Press website

I also have this and love it!

The Map as Art - a MUST for all!

This is a wonderful book that explores the use of maps in art, some great approaches that spark other ideas. A fantastic resource for us and all who are interested in maps, text and art!
The Map as Art
Reviews and info here

And by the same author - Katherine Harmon
You Are Here
Personal Geographies and Other Maps of the Imagination
Reviews and info here

I have both of these and can thoroughly recommend them, for the project and in the classroom. Enjoy:)

Serendipitor

Found this in the app store (on KTs rec) and have installed it on my phone. Looks like a lot of fun, but maybe not suited directly to our project.
I think we could make our own app (when we find our how) to map our own journeys and adventures.

Free in the iTunes Store.

Serendipitor is an alternative navigation app for the iPhone that helps you find something by looking for something else. The app combines directions generated by a routing service (in this case, the Google Maps API) with instructions for action and movement inspired by Fluxus, Vito Acconci, and Yoko Ono, among others. From the Serendipitor website.

Serendipitor website

Monday, 29 August 2011

Artist/Investigator/Good Mood Generator(?)

I have been thinking a lot about mixed methods research, arts based research and the role of the 'artist as investigator'. It'd be really amazing to examine and map the flourishing capacity of our personal worlds and wider worlds, as well as investigating the ways that art (in the context of the artworld) enhances flourishing & helps us to thrive. The positive psychology literature tells us that in order to flourish, people need to experience 'Positive Emotion', 'Engagement', 'Relationships', 'Meaning' & 'Achievement' (Seligman, 2010). I believe that making art facilitates all of these things and supports our wellbeing!!! These 5 positive psychology principles are represented by the acronym (P.E.R.M.A). Wouldn't it be fun to use artmaking as an investigative tool to explore, examine and document the 'P.E.R.M.A Culture' of our communities, finding creative ways to represent & record flourishing and thriving?!

Check out Emotional Cartography where a group of artists & designers have used new artmaking technologies to explore the political, social & cultural implications of visualising intimate biometric data & emotional experiences.

Drop in and have a look at 'Mappiness' - the app being used to map happiness .

Maybe together we could make 'flow maps' or fabricate 'Festivals of Flourishing'.

When you think of art & flourishing what comes to your mind?