Urban Sensoria
s SINGAPORE
Main meeting July 26th, 2008
Open Exploration: July 26th -29th, 2008i29th
A multimedia, sensorial exploration of the structured, repetitive,
random, personal, cultural, space-and-scale of the city.
[enter sensoria shimokitazawa]
Urban
Sensoria is
an experimental method of experiencing and exploring the city. It is
also a theoretical inquiry into cities, culture, memory, experience,
and how it relates to traditional media and new technologies.
The previous workshop was held in Barcelona, as part of the Barcelona International Contemporary Arts Festival. Shimokitazawa (Tokyo, Japan) was the stage of Urban Typhoon, under which some of the concepts behind the Sensoria were developed (thanks Tokyo!).
URBAN SENSORIA CONCEPTS
<<< registration and programme details below >>
The city and culture
The
city is a physical representation of culture: the materials, the
smells, the colours, the surfaces are all cultural manifestations.
Culture is both the interface through which we sense everything and
the machine through which the city is created and transformed. Each
physical area develops its own unique forms. The initial layout of
the city sets a stage, a breeding ground for things to grow. The city
grows like the roots of a tree, in many directions, molded by the
initial layout and local culture. The city is created by a
multiplicity of individual expressions that influence each other and
create a unique identity. An area of the city is a collective self,
constantly evolving.
Senses
and memory
The
city is experienced through the senses, but our sensory experiences
are shaped and filtered by culture, so the city is an infinitely
personal experience that exists as a memory that constantly changes
as we experience it over and over again. Memory input depends
entirely on the senses, and thus the city itself is a collection of
sensed memories. But it is
not a random or complete, methodical collection. Rather, it is a
collection shaped by our own individual selves. A city is unique to
every individual or group of individuals. The connection between the
(collective) self and the city, whether by choice or by accident
(nobody chooses their first city) is often inseparable. Memory is not
of things past, it is of things present as it shapes what we sense
and how we sense it. It determines everything we experience.
Self
and experience
A
new city is
experienced, inevitably, as seen through the self and compared with
the cities that have shaped that self. This connection between the
self and the city is what makes us identify with a particular
physical space of a particular city. But the sensory experience of
the city can be determined by many different factors: we can choose a
form of navigation (walking, running, driving, flying, crawling), and
a speed (slow, medium, fast), and we can choose a sensory focus
(smell the city, observe it, listen to its sounds, to strangers’
conversations).
We can also determine how we navigate through the city-we
may explore it randomly given its physical constraints, follow
shortest paths to reach places, look for markers or monuments, or
simply follow sensory intuition (how many times have you followed
smells in a city?).
Urban
Sensoria Workshop Singapore
In this workshop we are interested in exploring the ways we explore the city, guided by our senses, the culture that shapes them, and the city itself. Given the special nature of Singapore, we will explore more than one area of the city, comparing contrasts between neighborhoods such as Little India, Arab Street, China Town, and the shopping districts.
Registration
& questions:
alex.jaimes
&&&& idiap.ch (replace &&&& with @)
with the subject line “sensoria registration”.
Registration fee is 40 S$ payable in cash at the first meeting.
Pre-registration
is not mandatory, but space will be limited and filled on a first
come basis.
Program
The workshop starts Saturday, July 26th at 8:30 am and ends Tuesday, July 29th at 5:00 pm. WORKSHOP schedule is COMPLETELY flexible (to allow attendance to ISEA events). Most important is the initial meeting on Saturday, after which we will arrange other meetings to discuss our experiences. Participants from Singapore are encouraged as much as participants from abroad!
Format: workshop will consist of meetings, and explorations which take place between meeting times.
o Saturday, July 26th: meet from 8:30 am to 10:30 am @ Singapore National Museum. Exploration most of the day, meeting in the evening. Meeting times for the days that follow will be set on Saturday.
o Sunday, July 27th: explore, meet for lunch, and in the evening for drinks. [NOTE: I will make a presentation at ISEA 2008, “Urban Sensoria- Culture, Content, Technology, and Locating Media” @ 11:30 am (NTU B1-3).
o Monday, July 28th: explore, meet for lunch, and in the evening for drinks.
o Tuesday, July 29th: explore, meet 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm.
Detailed program
The workshop consists mainly of activities around the neighborhood(s) chosen by the participants using sensory recordings in different forms (more below for the sensory modes!).
Day
1:
two hours [Saturday, July 26th,
8:30 am –
10:30
am]
In the first meeting we will discuss projects related to Urban Sensoria, provide background information on Singapore, discuss the themes above and share experiences. Each person will then try to create maps of ways in which they experience cities-we will experiment with different forms of mapmaking. These maps will be shared and will form the basis of the work the rest of the day.
8:00-8:30 warm-up and introductions
8:30-9:00 explanation of the workshop process and technical details
9:00-9:30 presentation of related projects and exploration methods
9:30-9:45 break
9:45-10:15 individual brainstorming of exploration methods
10:15-10:30 exchange of ideas
Day 2: Sunday, July 27th, exploration time flexible, meeting times will be set Saturday.
We will meet to continue the discussion from the previous day and start thinking of ways to create and share our experiences. Participants may choose a plan (including random exploration) and the means to document it (including memory) and explore an area of the city, individually or in teams. Participants will then go out and explore that area of the city over several hours and we will meet again to examine, construct, and deconstruct the results. We will then choose a different exploration mechanism (and possibly method) for the next day.
Day
3: Monday,
July 28th
We will explore the city using the new method, converge for lunch and share experiences, draw conclusions, ask questions.
Day 4: Tuesday, July 29th
Discuss relevant experiences meet for informal discussion, and make final “presentations”
Modes:
Touching, smelling, listening, tasting, seeing.
Techniques
Photo, interview, filming, editing, mapping, writing...
Things
to bring (completely open, bring any or none!):
-
Laptops
with animation, flash, film, VJ or music editing software
-
Cameras,
video-cameras, sound recorders,
-
Storage
devices (external hard drives, DVDs)
-
Sketchbook/note
book
-
Pens
and markers
Inspirational reading
The empire of the senses (David Howes)
Aural cultures (ed. Jim Drobnick)
Invisible cities (Italo Calvino)