On a cold weekend in October 2011 as part of the VOME (Visualisation and Other Methods of Expression) team, headed by Dr Lizzie Coles Kemp, I set off for the Middlesbrough Railway station in North Yorkshire. I was off to take part in the hosting of an event called Privacy.Co.Ok? Part of the Economic & Social Research Council’s Festival of Social Science; a weeklong series of events celebrating the breadth of research being undertaken in the UK. The VOME team wanted to create an event for the Festival that would stimulate thought on the topic of on-line communication, expression and privacy. We also wanted to reach as wide a variety of people as possible and to engage those who would not normally become involved with academic research activities.

Our chosen venue, Middlesbrough Railway Station, was perfect for this, as it is a space of movement and transfer. People of all ages, different ethnic groups and social backgrounds come and go from this location; connecting, meeting and parting. It’s a public space where intimate moments happen. It’s also a place where people spend time watching other people, much like the way people often behave on the Internet.

We wanted to engage with the people of Middlesbrough in an artistic co-creation of a visual sound collage, using the topic of On-Line Privacy. We wanted to build on the themes identified during the Privacy Workshop for Artists, London, March 2011. This time though, instead of working with a group of artists, we wanted to engage with the general public.

In Middlesbrough our starting point was an enormous blank canvas set up in the station platform underpass. We were hoping that by the end of the weekend this would be filled with self portraits and portraits of people at the station. We also hoped that the canvas would capture some of their thoughts about themselves, comments on their secret on-line activities and on life in Middlesbrough.
To draw the public in and to help stimulate thought and creativity, a small team of performers used themed character interactions. Reeta, one of the performers, had a suitcase of her own secrets that she shared. Andy Christie and Jose Parra (Bimbilibausa) went out in duo, acting as live comment boards, changing identity with use of masks and providing light relief by way of celebrity red-carpet interactions which led to portrait taking, skillfully photographed by Luke Avery. We showed a short humorous (5 min) film made specifically for this year’s FSS event by Rita and myself, starring Rita, called ‘Watching or Being Watched’. It could be viewed through a keyhole installation in the station’s café. Rita interacted with people as this character and also went out as another masked character. I went out as Margareth the clown, bearing the world’s smallest mask, the red nose. The red nose is the mask of the theatrical clown and it reveals aspects of the often hidden self; it displays humanity and therefore often touches people.

Mask work is an interesting artistic practice in relation to the process of how people choose to present themselves when they are on the internet. Mask work involves dealing with issues and questions about how we construct a sense of identity, who we wish to be and how we want to be seen by others. The Character interactions worked well, engaging people with the event and allowing them to begin to discuss the themes with the characters. Through this process they started to make links with our theme; telling stories about their own personal history and how they are affected through their participation on the internet.

On the main station concourse we displayed portraits painted by the visual artist, Rika Deyrike, at the Privacy Workshop for Artists. We also played sound recordings by Viv Corringham (PWA). Screenings of Bimbilibausa Theatre’s clown theatre piece OnandOff Line, created for VOME and the Festival of Social Science 2010, took place in the waiting room.

As the weekend progressed, teenagers, pensioners, parents with their children, professionals, visitors and some homeless people interacted with the VOME team. Many of these people became engaged with our theme, developing it while expressing themselves and sharing their expression publically. The collage in the platform underpass started to take form and was filled with images and comments.

By contributing to the collage in Middlesbrough people were sharing parts of their identity and history with others, in a very public place. Some of this would be revealing for the individual, some of this would be sheltered under the wing of anonymity in the wholeness. We did of course seek permission for usage from each individual person who contributed. Their individual contributions of self portraits, portraits and comments started to become a part of a collective whole.

We had chosen to seek their expression through using the medium of a collectively produced collage because this medium carries such strong links to the way people use the internet. The nature of the internet means that we don’t have full control of what actually happens to our images; we are a part of the collective whole where images and information can be changed by others, used and added to.

The Internet and modern electronic devices allow more people greater opportunity for self-expression than in past times, in fact shared self-expression for many has now become the norm. Artists have for centuries formed self-portraits to display themselves personally as well as professionally. Now we can all share images of ourselves with a wider audience and show parts of our life story, and choose how we wish our stories to be seen. With Facebook, blogs and personal webpages we have the opportunity to express, communicate, tell the world who we are, or who we would like to be. With these media, we can choose how we form our personal identity on the internet. We form a modern day self-portraiture that we share with friends, family and the rest of the world.

In the second day of our stay in Middlesbrough, people started gathering in the station underpass to see the contributions made on the collage. Those contributing had through the photographs and selfportraits generously shared images of themselves. They had also within the collective whole self disclosed and shared information that was personal to them; this also included what they secretly look up on the net. The collage was starting to take on a life of its own, becoming something that belonged to the space. With a feeling of regret we took it down on the Sunday afternoon, our time there coming to an end. It felt as if we’d witnessed the beginning of something truly exciting that had started to snowball. We then took a fond farewell from Middlesbrough, the people there and the proud historic station building that has carried its own secrets in other times.

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.