Privacy.co.OK?
Take part in a regional art event and have a bite at Middlesbrough Railway Station café on us…

Help Margareth the Clown and a team of artists build a picture of Britain on-line in 2011 and add your voice to the Internet safety debate!!

When: Saturday 29th October 12.00 – 4.00pm and Sunday 30th October 11.00 – 2.00pm

Where: Middlesbrough Railway Station

What: Art activities and performance art for all the family

This activity is run by the VOME research project and is part of the national Festival of Social Science.

VOME is a research project about on-line privacy, run by Royal Holloway University of London, Cranfield and Salford Universities together with Sunderland City Council and Consult Hyperion.

The aim of this event is to encourage the public to share their thoughts about on-line identity and take part in art activities that help us build a sound and visual art collage about on-line safety. All participants will be given a £5.00 voucher to spend at the railway station’s Travellers Rest Cafe.

Hosting an event such as this is a valuable component of the VOME research strategy as it allows us to use art to engage with members of the public on topics related to internet safety.

Participants will be able to:

• Watch performance art on topics related to on-line safety
• Take part in making an art collage
• Develop self-portraits
• Help build our whispering secrets wall

Anthina Antoniaouis is calmly intense, holds a steady gaze and   drinks her vodka double, neat, poured over ice cubes.  She is a woman with depth, she has learned about life.  Listening intensely, she bears herself as someone who understands the seasons, the mountains, the seas, humanity and nature itself.  She is streetwise, perfectly at home in any urban setting finding her way effortlessly through winding alleys and high-rises.  Anthena is just plain cool in a chilled kind of a way.  And she produces exciting, thought provoking art.

VOME Workshop: What does Privacy Look Feel and Sound Like? Athina Antoniadou from VOME on Vimeo.

Link here read Freya’s complete thoughts on the presentation

In this film, Karina talks about her personal relationship with technology and how technology enables her to express aspects of her identity. The desire to express her identity hasn’t changed over the years, but technology has and with it, Karina’s ability to express and explore different aspects of who she is.

VOME Workshop: what does Privacy Look Feel and Sound Like? Karina Townsend from VOME on Vimeo.

Karina Townsend is a bit of a music geek.  As a girl, she would wait in great anticipation for her favorite music to be played on the radio.  When it came on, she would quickly push the ‘record’ button of her cassette player, capturing it on tape.  She still looks back on this time with a certain amount of nostalgia.  Karina enjoyed the waiting, and excitement of managing to capture her favorite songs.  During this time she built up quite a personal historic archive of the music played then.

I really like the idea of doing that.  –I mean, of Karina doing that.  Me?  No thanks.  The truth is, I would find the waiting part of it too hard to endure.

At the moment waiting for anything at all actually drives me nuts, bonkers, crazy, on the brink of insanity.  I’ve waited enough in my life.  Why do I have to wait, if I can do and have something here and now, instantly?

Link here to read Freya’s complete thoughts on Karina’s presentation

In this presentation, Viv encourages researchers to think about how privacy is intimately related to notions of identity and how the sense of privacy changes on a moment by moment basis. Viv’s work also encourages researchers to think about how physical space interacts with someone’s emotional space and how adjusting physical space influences the senses of privacy.

VOME Workshop: What does Privacy Look Feel and Sound Like? Viv Corringham from VOME on Vimeo.

Viv Corringham is a Sound Artist who communicates other people’s private thoughts. She listens and records them during a walk of their familiar route, walking by their side, later to re-walk their route on her own, singing to their stories she’s listened to.  She calls the recordings ‘Shadow walks’ and says her voice becomes a ‘ghost’ of the memories and associates.  Viv says people literally undress for a sound recording, as they would for if being painted; being painted or recorded merging into a space where people reveal privacy in different forms.

Link here to read Freya’s complete thoughts on Viv’s presentation

Our fourth release from the “What does Privacy Look Feel and Sound like Workshop” presents Justin Durrel.

“In this provocation, Justin Durrel reflects on notions of anonymity and the power it can give us. Justin contextualises the opening of his talk in the US interview: http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/375428/february-24-2011/corporate-hacker-tries-to-take-down-wikileaks which sadly we can’t show in the UK. However, nevertheless, Justin raises a number of interesting questions and challenges some of our traditional research notions of anonymity. The second part of the film shows a very energetic interaction between researchers and artists in which some of the roles of anonymity in society are debated.”

More details on the workshop, its objectives and an outline of the process can be found here

Justin Durrel – Pt 1 from VOME on Vimeo.

Justin Durrel – Pt 2 from VOME on Vimeo.

Justin Durrel is accelerating forwards as an artist and theatre-maker.  His knowledge of the web is vast, his thoughts fresh and on the beat, naming things as is – he certainly does not beat around the bush.  From Baltimore he comes to Europe bearing his cultural roots with pride.

‘I don’t believe that privacy exists on the net, I don’t actually believe that privacy exists anywhere anyway’, Justin says.  He thinks this thing about wanting privacy is a modern day phenomena, historically we were content to live much closer, more people living in the same space, close knit communities – there wasn’t much privacy then, he says.

Link here to read Freya’s complete thoughts on Justin’s presentation

“Rika Deryckere is a figure painter. Some of her work focuses on the erotic and she often presents a “naked and brutal reality”. In this short film, she reflects on her work and shows some of her erotic art that emphasises privacy in its intimate form. In her talk, Rika also draws out different states of privacy ranging from anonymity, to isolation and intimacy and reflects on how it is possible to be in several of those states simultaneously.”

More details on the workshop, its objectives and an outline of the process can be found here

There’s so much there in Rika Deyricke’s presentation.  You’ll see Rika  captured on film with her own craziness and fun, with a tiny pinch of vulnerability and a depth of thought.  ‘The only truth we have at our disposal is hidden within us, unless of course, we elect to share it with others.’ Rika quotes from Simon Lane.

Rika Deryckere from VOME on Vimeo.

Link here to read Freya’s complete thoughts on Rika’s presentation.

This is the second film from the “What does privacy look feel and sound like” workshop. Jonathan’s presentation focuses on presenting 10 thoughts and anecdotes on technology, privacy and visibility / invisibility and relates these to his own experience.  His presentation is thought provoking.  From these 10 thoughts / anecdotes you can also learn more about Jonathan and how he operates. The VOME researchers, amongst other things, used this provocation to think about how our interaction with technology changes our perceptions of self and how technology affects us and we affect technology.

More details on the workshop, its objectives and an outline of the process can be found here

VOME WORKSHOP:WHAT DOES PRIVACY LOOK FEEL AND SOUND LIKE: Jonathan from VOME on Vimeo.

Link here to read Freya’s complete thought’s on Jonathan’s presentation

VOME is releasing one video per week for the next eight weeks. Each individual film is a specific social commentary on a privacy related topic developed by an artist for one of our workshops. Our artists are from a variety of genres, and all participated in our “What does Privacy Look, Feel and Sound Like?” workshop, so look out for some interesting and though provoking film clips. For more details on the workshop and the process we followed, click here.

Private Moments -A film from the Workshop “What does Privacy Sound Feel and Look Like” – Reettta’s  pure essence – a provocation that was developed to explore thoughts on the nature of identity and identity management.

As part of its work, VOME has engaged with art and design communities as we work to envision different ways in which privacy and consent technologies might evolve. Art and design disciplines have also helped to enrich VOME’s current technology development programme. VOME is focused on grassroots debate and interaction on privacy issues across all sections of the community.
In support of the evolving discussion prompted by the alternate viewpoints on privacy highlighted by these videos, an artist from the VOME community will be leading blog discussions on our art and design programme.
You can find all the film related to this part of our work here:

Reetta’s pure essence

This is the first film from the artists’ workshop entitled “What Does Privacy Sound, Feel and Look Like?”.  More details on the workshop, its objectives and an outline of the process can be found here.

Each artist was asked to develop a provocation related to the theme of on-line privacy. Here is Reetta’s provocation based on the theme of identity. The audience interact with Reetta to uncover aspects of her identity that she typically keeps hidden. This provocation helps VOME researchers to think about the different aspects of identity and identity management and some of the sense in which identity is negotiated.

VOME WORKSHOP:WHAT DOES PRIVACY LOOK FEEL AND SOUND LIKE: REETTA from VOME on Vimeo.

Watching Reetta’s presentation you see a glimmer of Reetta as she really is, pre performance.  A private moment of the actor captured.  The moment before ‘going on’, when you don’t know for sure what will really happen as there is audience involvement and it all depends on how they accept your proposals, react and interact.  Making sure you’re ready, in Reetta’s case: props, costume, makeup and music – not too high / not too low.  Had the audience interrupted Reetta’s pre-set up, she would have had a momentary loss of control of the illusion she wished to create.

Link here to read Freya’s complete thoughts on this presentation

Lizzie Coles -Kemp – Project Manager for VOME,  introduces the project and sets the scene for  the Key note speaker. In this introduction, Lizzie explains a little of the ways in which VOME works with the art and design communities.

Lizzie Coles-Kemp presents “What does privacy look, feel and sound like” from VOME on Vimeo.