Blurring the Lines Publication

Contents Blurring the Lines: 16 people changing the way we experience culture.

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Foreword Kerem Alper Ben Barker James Bridle Professor Jon Rogers Nick Farnhill Sarah Drummond Bassem Elhady Elena Fortes Rohan Gunatillake Cassie Robinson Babitha George Drew Hemment Anab Jain Frank Boyd Ridwan Kamil Nhat Linh H.D. Mabuse Tom Uglow Jay Miller Dai Qin Yuri Suzuki Ben Vickers Keri Elmsly Tom Tobia Watershed Thanks

This publication accompanies the Blurring the Lines exhibition (London, 2014) and features the work of 16 people from around the world, alongside provocations from other key thinkers across the creative, technology and culture sectors.

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Foreword creativeconomy.britishcouncil.org | @UK_CE

Blurring the Lines is an exhibition about culture in flux, told through sixteen stories of people who dare to see the world differently.

Growing urban populations, rapid advancements in technology and access to resources are causing tectonic shifts in the way we live and communicate.

They are changing the way we experience culture; blurring the boundaries of what defines traditional disciplines, markets and value.

This exhibition presents sixteen people who are navigating these changes and opening up ideas, communities and platforms to reimagine our collective future. From Elena Fortes, whose film festival Ambulante is bringing documentary to unorthodox places, to James Bridle, who believes that people can do more in the world if they understand better how it works, to Ridwan Kamil, who is reshaping the identity of his Indonesian city through good design. They come from very different contexts but all thrive on new perspectives, draw influence from a global network and take part in collaborative projects with the British Council.

We were delighted to work with Watershed, Victoria Tillotson, Ian Danby and Katy Beale, who produced this exhibition with curiosity, open spirit and generosity and are grateful to all the other contributors who brought these stories of shifting times to life.

The British Council’s Creative Economy team support international collaborations, skills and policy development with a network of creative pioneers like those featured in this booklet. They are part of the innovation at the heart of the creative sector, which is growing faster than any other in the UK, generating millions of jobs and increasing trade worldwide. We believe in a wider understanding of culture, in its capacity to contribute to economic, social and technological development, and in the importance of supporting those who are re-inventing creative exploration and participation.

Join us to celebrate these sixteen remarkable stories of change and be inspired to make some of your own too.

Beatrice Pembroke Director, Creative Economy, British Council

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Culture Shift Russia. Image Š Alexander Delovoi

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Kerem Alper Co-Founder, ATÖLYE. Turkey atolyeistanbul.co | @atolyeist

ATÖLYE Istanbul is a co-working and fabrication space, incorporating traditional Turkish makers and crafts with new technologies and prototyping methods.

The community workspace offers prototyping tools – including a 3D printer, laser cutter, traditional tools and a media lab – alongside classes, workshops and seminars for peer-to-peer education. ATÖLYE’s membership of creative entrepreneurs working across design, architecture, art, engineering and education, take initial ideas through to design and completed prototype.

“We created ATÖLYE as we believe that there are extremely talented, driven and inspirational entrepreneurs in Istanbul that are missing out on appropriate infrastructure, resources and community.”

“Agency models are outdated: through the power of technology and beyond, we can network individuals to form collaborations and networks - a much more effective way to complete and manage projects.”

Kerem has collaborated with international academics and entrepreneurs to share learning and develop best practice around how networked hub environments can support and promote an entrepreneurial culture.

Kerem was Turkey’s winner of the British Council’s Young Creative Entrepreneur (Culture) Award 2014.

He travelled to the UK as part of an international group of creative pioneers to connect with UK based creative hubs and start-ups.

The Young Creative Entrepreneur programme identifies and connects emerging artists, designers, technologists and entrepreneurs around the world.

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Image © ATÖLYE Istanbul

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Ben Barker Founder, PAN Studio. UK

panstudio.co.uk | @pan_studio | @bengbarker

PAN Studio creates interactive installations and experimental objects designed to find new ways of enriching everyday living. PAN’s work explores the significance of experience when used as the key element in the creation of new objects, systems or services.

Recent work has focused on the digital reclamation of public space for playful interactions. Their projects include Design of the Year shortlisted Hello Lamp Post, a city-wide platform for play, and Run an Empire, a territory control strategy game that you play in the space around you.

Ben participated in Unbox LABS in Ahmedabad, India.

UnBox LABS is a British Council supported programme that enabled practitioners from the UK and India to collaboratively explore social and urban issues.

“Hello Lamp Post! uncovers the whispers on the street, the guardians in dark corners, humanising our cities’ appendages whose eyes and ears now have a voice. Vessels for an ever evolving conversation, connecting us together.” Imogen Heap

“All of our projects enable different communities to work together, creating an ‘inbetween space’, where new ideas can emerge and disrupt the usual way of doing things. We believe people can have profound experiences in designed environments, and exploration of this space sits at the core of what we do.”

“We are a generation of designers for whom the Internet of things is impossible to ignore, we understand that objects are often the visible element in far more complex systems, whether that’s BERG’s Little Printer or a bin that knows when it’s full.”

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Image © Hello Lamp Post – PAN Studio 2013

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James Bridle Artist, writer, and publisher. UK booktwo.org | @jamesbridle

In a world where we are increasingly tracked by invisible technology, James’ most recent work, The Right To Flight, consists of a military-grade aerostat flying from the roof of a multi-storey car park in South London. Attached to the balloon are a variety of payloads, from darknet routers to aerial cameras, with an accompanying research and event programme investigating military infrastructures, contemporary surveillance, the history of ballooning, and technological utopias.

His previous work includes A Quiet Disposition, an intelligent database of news and information on unmanned aircraft, the Drone Shadows of 1:1 outlines of actual aircraft (which anyone can make), and the Iraq War Historiography, an encyclopaedia of Wikipedia Changelogs.

“It’s vital that digital technologies are accessible to all. As the vast and smoking industrial architectures of the 20th Century give way to the invisible, intangible digital infrastructures of the 21st, we’re going to need a higher level of technological literacy to ensure democratic participation in this discussion, and the help of artists to enlarge its vocabulary.”

“In my work I try to make visible the invisible - softwares, networks, social and political systems. I believe that a greater level of systems literacy increases peoples’ agency: in short, you can do more in the world if you understand better how it works.”

James was a finalist in the British Council’s Young Creative Entrepreneur (Publishing) 2008 programme, which included a study tour to India and participation in the London Book Fair.

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Image © Roberta Mataityte / Lighthouse

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Welcome to the makers of the pull economy: a worldwide network of makers and doers. Where collaboration is valued over being ‘lean’ and where communities of practice are valued over communities of funding. Whether by hackervist groups in Johannesburg, co-designers in Delhi, or by makers blurring the natural world with digital production in Sao Paulo, theirs is the commonality of collaborative practice.

The language of expression may change, but the platforms for access are global.

Professor Jon Rogers Professor of Creative Technology, University of Dundee

One after another industries are being turned on their head by insurgents who don’t look or think anything like the established leaders. Big businesses and powerful brands are loosening up and connecting with the most innovative startups as they realise that this is the new frontier of economic growth.

Rather than fighting this trend, a new generation of leaders are driving corporations that have the confidence to embrace collaboration and place themselves at the centre of innovation.

This isn’t new, but what is exciting are the individuals and organisations that are on a mission to accelerate this collaborative economy.

Nick Farnhill Founder, Poke London

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Image © Nikola-Lenivets, British Council Russia

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Sarah Drummond Co-Founder & Director, Snook. Scotland, UK wearesnook.com | @wearesnook | @rufflemuffin

“We work both externally and within organisations - we’re the chameleons blending in before changing colour and upsetting the status quo.”

Snook focuses on challenging the way governments and companies operate, re-designing the products and services that make up our daily lives.

Sarah creates initiatives such as MyPolice, the UK’s first online feedback platform for the police and her latest project, Dearest Scotland, asks people to ‘write a letter to the future of Scotland’. This timely statement, that was recently debated inside Scottish Parliament by all political parties and featured on BBC Radio, will culminate in a published book of the letters.

She co-created Cyclehack, an annual event that will take place in 30 cities in 2015. The event looks at how we can reduce the barriers to cycling and gets people prototyping solutions to better cycling in the city, generating ideas such as “Penny in Yo’ Pants”, a life hack to help woman cycle in skirts which gained 3.5 million video hits online.

Snook designed and delivered the British Council’s Culture Shift in Nigeria, part of a global hack programme developing new ideas within the creative and cultural industries.

“I challenge people’s ideas of what is possible, I don’t take no for an answer.”

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Image © Sarah Drummond

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Bassem Elhady Co-Founder, Kijamii. Egypt kijamii.com | @bassemelhady

Two months after the revolution in Egypt in 2011, Bassem set up Kijamii, a social media agency, in Cairo.

Bassem is a passionate advocate of collaboration: working with the creative community in Cairo and connecting them into networks in Egypt and beyond.

As the Co-founder of TEDxCairo, he plays a central role in inspiring and creating change as well as providing him with a platform where Egypt’s leading visionaries, thinkers and storytellers can meet, talk and form their own networks.

Bassem was Egypt’s winner in of the British Council’s 2009 Young Creative Entrepreneur (Interactive Media) Award. In 2012, he also co-curated the first British Council Culture Shift programme in Egypt.

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“Kijamii’s success is down to being genuinely passionate about social media and the way it is changing everything around us politically and socially. The key to working successfully in social media is adopting the same mechanics as bringing people together. It’s about not only being able to tell stories, but also listening to people and allowing them to discover things by themselves.”

All Illustrations © Ella Britton

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Elena Fortes Director, Ambulante. Mexico

ambulante.com.mx | @Ambulante | @elenafortes

Ambulante is a non-profit organisation, dedicated to supporting and promoting international documentary cinema as a tool for social and cultural change.

“We believe that through film we can challenge peoples perspectives and engage people in a constructive dialogue and active participation. The key element of our festival is actually what we leave behind: people with passion and enthusiasm and new skills to put on arts events and screenings of their own, to replicate our own work and extend our network.”

Their annual film festival brings more than 50 ground-breaking films to over 100 venues in 30 cities, often to places with little access to or experience of documentary film.

Elena was Mexico’s winner of the British Council’s Young Creative Entrepreneur (Screen) Award 2010.

She continues to work with the British Council on various projects including the London MexFest Festival of contemporary Mexican culture.

“Disruption is a key component of our work: from staging screenings in unorthodox places - museums, care homes, prisons - to using technology to give people access to viewing and making their own content. Many of the film screenings we host have a political undercurrent for example, projecting a film about immigration directly onto the wall of the border.”

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Image © Ambulante

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In times of change, there comes a point when we need to focus less on existing structures and established ways of doing things and turn our energies to the new.

We need to support those of us who have the capacity and bravery to work at the edge of the known, combining ideas in different ways and making work that explores new boundaries.

This experimental space is a fragile one and it requires us to be generous: to make open and inclusive spaces for imagination and prototyping, to celebrate the people making the work not just the work itself, and to be open about what might come next.

Within this current state of ‘revolution’, a different kind of cultural pioneer is emerging.

Those with the ability to see the larger systems of which we are all part; who can recognise the unprecedented level of interdependence that characterises our world and those who foster collaboration across every imaginable boundary; moving from a reactive problemsolving mode to creating entirely different futures that we truly desire. They bring together an awareness and sense of purpose from the field of social innovation, the political engagement, criticality and invention of speculative design and a respect for the slow, creative and deliberate building of culture.

Rohan Gunatillake

Cassie Robinson

Director, 21awake and Trustee, British Council

The Point People

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Image Š Nikola-Lenivets, British Council Russia

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Babitha George Co-Founder and Partner, UnBox/Quicksand. India

unboxfestival.com | @unboxfestival

Quicksand is a multi-disciplinary consultancy, based in India and one of the co-founders of the British Council supported UnBox, a multi-disciplinary festival.

Over the past four years, UnBox has become a recognised platform for inspiration, dialogue, academic research and hands-on action. UnBox focuses on emerging and disruptive ideas from individuals and organisations that are pushing the boundaries of their own practice.

“UnBox came out of a simple idea to construct a different type of network focused on developing real projects with new and exciting people. We wanted to find out who else is out there, across India and the world, doing interesting things across a multitude of disciplines.”

UnBox LABS brings together creative practitioners, artists and academic researchers from the UK and India on residential programmes, to explore social and urban issues. UnBox LABS 2014 focused on empathetic, people-centred solutions to the issues that the cities of our future could face, developing ideas and prototypes around a people-centred census, connecting ‘invisible’ communities and combatting noise pollution, amongst others.

“The key principles of UnBox are curiosity, collaboration and openness. Our manifesto has, at it’s heart, a spirit of generosity and collective risk taking with hopefully, a whole bunch of new friends.”

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Image © Ioanna Manoussaki-Adamopoulou

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Drew Hemment Founder, CEO and Creative Director, FutureEverything. UK

futureeverything.org | @futureverything | @toodrew

FutureEverything is an award-winning innovation lab for digital culture, and an annual festival. Over 20 years, FutureEverything has participated and contributed to the emergence of digital culture, with a vision to give rise to a truly participatory culture and society.

FutureEverything worked with the British Council to produce Culture Shift Russia: Art Lab - a sold-out 3 day programme of workshops, talks, socials and a 30 hour hackathon, using open data from the Russian State Library, ZIL Cultural Centre, the Nikola-Lenivets Arts Park and the Russian Polytechnic Museum.

“Our festival used to be like a flower in the desert, it would bloom once a year as if from nowhere, the root system invisible. Then in the early 2000s we recognised that our year-round research and development was valued as much as the public outcomes. We began to grow our innovation programmes, with cities and science labs, on data services, infrastructure and design methods, to the point they became bigger than the festival.”

“We developed the Festival As Lab model, acting as a pop-up laboratory for new ways of living, playing and working, using art and design prototypes to re-design the future. The festival turns the city into a play space and enables the free circulation of people and ideas, connecting people in new collaborations at different levels, from grassroots to government and business leaders. Our work in Moscow was designed on this premise, from which great works such as Light Barrier and Visual Silence emerged.”

“Global collaboration is at the centre of everything we do. If we have a local challenge, we bring people from other parts of the world together to co-create solutions. If we have a new theme or project, we take early ideas out to our international design and new media art community.”

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Image © the Visual Silence Team 2014

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Anab Jain Co-founder and Director, Superflux. UK / India superflux.in | @anabjain | @superflux

“Its our ambition to develop a new kind of design practice — a networked, resilient studio that is responsive to the unique challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.”

Superflux is an Anglo-Indian design practice based in London, with roots and networks in Ahmedabad, India.

Working at the intersection of design, technology and science, Superflux’s projects span wide ranging themes; from neural prosthetics and augmented vision, to domestic eco-robots, pirate networks and RFID-enabled electronic jewellery.

Anab is a TED Fellow and regularly speaks on design futurescaping, elastic cities, new technologies and innovation around the world.

The Superflux model is based on flexible collaborations and networks – allowing them to bring in interesting people from a range of disciplines, from across the world. This collaborative style of working offers a unique insight into exploring the rise of technological empowerment, new forms of networks and new ways of working.

Superflux are currently developing a new project with the British Council, to be announced later this year.

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“Our family grows and shrinks depending on what projects we are working on. It allows us to keep a progressive design agenda, to explore opportunities that keep us intellectually and creatively sustained, which brings vision and freshness to our work.”

“Things that would have once required the brute force of the nation or mega-corporation can now be achieved by a small network of like-minded group collaborators.”

Image © Anab Jain

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THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES ARE UNDERGOING A PROFOUND TRANSFORMATION AS A RESULT OF THE TWIN DRIVERS OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES AND INTERNATIONALISATION. THIS IS MOST OBVIOUSLY THE CASE FOR LARGE, GLOBAL MEDIA ENTERTAINMENT BUSINESSES, WITH OFFICES, VALUE CHAINS AND MARKETS ACROSS THE WORLD, BUT THESE DRIVERS ARE INCREASINGLY IMPACTING ON CREATIVE BUSINESSES WHATEVER THEIR SIZE AND SECTOR. CRAFT ENTERPRISES, DESIGNER FASHION HOUSES AND EVEN THEATRE PRODUCTION COMPANIES ARE INNOVATING, RETHINKING THEIR MODES OF PRODUCTION, DISTRIBUTION AND BUSINESS MODELS. THE CREATIVE BUSINESS OF THE 21ST CENTURY WILL ONLY THRIVE AND GROW THROUGH EMBRACING THESE CHANGES, AND BEING CONSTANTLY OPEN TO NEW IDEAS. FRANK BOYD Director, (Creative Industries, Digital Economy, 26

Design), Knowledge Transfer Network.

Image © Yuri Suzuki – Colour Chaser, Ars Electronica

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Ridwan Kamil Mayor of Bandung. Indonesia

@ridwankamil

Ridwan Kamil is an award-winning architect and founder of the Bandung Creative City Forum. In 2013 he was elected Mayor of Bandung, a post he will hold until 2018.

Holding a Masters in Urban Design degree from the University of California at Berkeley and working for 7 years in New York, San Francisco and Hong Kong, Ridwan returned home in 2003 to establish his own architecture and design firm, Urbane Indonesia.

Ridwan’s background in urban design provides him with a unique approach to urban planning with initiatives such as the Regia City Forest, Bandung Food Festival and picnics, bringing people together to celebrate what they do well.

“What we need, of course, are leaders with vision who can fix things with new solutions whilst understanding how to think differently and how to inspire people to work together”

Ridwan also teaches architecture and writes on design and urbanism issues. He is currently promoting his “Good Design is Good Business” concept nationwide, to raise better awareness of the importance of design in many large-scale projects in Indonesia.

Ridwan was the Indonesian participant of the British Council’s Young Creative Entrepreneur (Design) Award in 2006. Since taking part, Ridwan has collaborated regularly with the British Council and most recently he is advising on a new cultural leadership programme in East Asia.

“Instead of using policies as the foundation for the city’s development, we take a special interest in the development of arts and culture in the city, especially to encourage community bonding.”

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Image ©Ridwan Kamil / Siren Productions

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Nhat Linh Founder, Yxine Film Fest. Vietnam

yxineff.com

With a focus on young filmmakers and a drive to nurture new talent, Linh has been central in developing a model that is helping the Vietnamese film industry build strong foundations for the future.

“The online element of the festival allows people to be braver and challenge authority and government censorship.

We want to support new voices and create new collaborations and partnerships to change things.”

Since graduating from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, Linh has worked across the film industry in Vietnam as an independent filmmaker, cofounding the Yxine Film Fest in 2010.

Yxine Film Fest is Vietnam’s first online Vietnamese short film festival which now also puts on screenings at film festivals across the world.

In Autumn 2014, the Yxine Film Festival is working with British Council on Pitch Fest, which brings together UK film producers with emerging Vietnamese talent to develop new ideas and scripts.

Nhat Linh was Vietnam’s winner of the British Council’s Young Creative Entrepreneur (Multimedia) Award 2013.

“In the last few years the festival has expanded significantly, mainly due to collaboration with the wider Vietnamese film industry. We are now integrating more events and training, to support new film makers and talent”

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Image © Yxine Film Fest

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H.D. Mabuse Artist. Brazil

mabuse.art.br | watershed.co.uk/playablecity/recife | @hdmabuse | @playablecity

H.D. Mabuse creates projects with a focus on emergent behaviours – remixing visual arts, design and music – and working collectively with others, to educate, activate and engage.

His projects include Journey to the centre of the Mangrove, a live performance connecting contemporary and traditional cultures, and Aquatic Pathways, a platform to alleviate congestion in the Brazilian city of Recife by promoting the use of river taxis.

“One of the best ways to encourage new thinking about our societies is to work with people from other cultures: it allows us to see the world with new eyes and new perspectives. I don’t believe, in my work at least, that it is possible to make something without dialogue with other people”

“It is important that we all engage in rethinking our societies. We must not wait for government or market changes to do this for us. With collective action, we can change our own environments.”

He is a core member of Recife artistic collective Autom.ato and a design consultant at technology company CESAR. In 2014 he participated in Recife: The Playable City, Watershed’s UK/Brazil development programme run in collaboration with Porto Digital and the British Council, as part of TRANSFORM.

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Image © Beto Figueiroa 2014

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IT SEEMS THAT DURING THIS DIGITAL REVOLUTION, AS WE LISTEN TO OUR DIGITAL MUSIC, PLAY ONLINE GAMES, TAKE DIGITAL PHOTOS ON DIGITAL PHONES THAT GATHER DIGITAL DUST IN FOLDERS IN THE CLOUD, SO FEW OF US ACTUALLY MAKE ANYTHING. OUR LIVES HAVE BECOME EPHEMERAL. INVISIBLE. SO WE SEEK TO CREATE VALUE, INCREASINGLY THROUGH COLLABORATION, NOT TRIVIAL ORNAMENTATION, NOR MOMENTARY FLEETING DELIGHT. IT IS NO SURPRISE THAT THE MOST EXCITING WORK IS EMERGING FROM FLUID NETWORKS OF COLLABORATORS RATHER THAN GARRET-BOUND PAINTERS, A NEW BREED OF ARTISTS AND GLOBAL COLLECTIVES UTILISING THE LATEST IN TECHNOLOGY AND COMMUNICATION TO CREATE PASSIONATE, COMPELLING VISIONS. NOT JUST NEW WORK BUT NEW WAYS OF EXPERIENCING ART AND DISRUPTING TRADITIONAL CULTURAL FORMS. Tom Uglow Google Creative Lab 34

Image © Beto Figueiroa 2014

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Jay Miller Artistic Director, The Yard Theatre. UK

theyardtheatre.co.uk | @YardTheatre | @iamjaymiller

“I feel strongly that artists thrive better when surrounded by communities of other artists, they can gain huge inspiration from each other.”

Converted from a dormant warehouse, The Yard is a multi-award winning theatre, bar and kitchen located just minutes from the London 2012 Olympic Stadium.

Jay’s vision for The Yard was to create a space for artists to explore ideas, to nurture new talent and to share new experiences, in the heart of a rapidly changing part of London.

Initially opened as a pop-up, the venue now employs 14 staff, offers mentoring and coaching, and has developed award-winning new writing talent. Unlike many of its peers, it prides itself on earning money through its bar, rather than through artist hires, and its catering operation is run by community groups from Hackney Wick, placing it at the heart of local life.

“Supporting artists to make work and take risks creates a community of artists and audiences, all of whom form a strong bond to The Yard.”

In 2013, Jay was named as one of the hClub100, in the British Council’s Creative Entrepreneur category. He travelled to Brazil in April 2014 with the British Council to expand his international network, learn and share ideas.

“I like the post industrial hinterland where old and new industries together with people, rub up against each other”

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Image © The Yard, photo by JP Hion

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Dai Qin Co-Founder, Douban Read. China read.douban.com

From humble beginnings – the site was originally code-named Noah’s Ark – the Chinese online publishing platform Douban Read now enables non-professional writers to reach loyal audiences of over one million people a month.

Part of Douban.com, a social network that encourages members to share cultural content and events, Douban Read brings together a flourishing and active network of writers, readers and critics from across China. Over 1,000 new short stories and novellas are uploaded each month and the Douban Read app has been downloaded 4.5 million times.

Dai Qin was China’s winner of the Young Creative Entrepreneur (Digital Publishing) Award in 2014. She travelled to the UK as part of an international delegation and spoke at London Book Fair’s Digital Minds Conference.

“The idea came about after a networking dinner with friends and contacts who were discussing opportunities for self-publishing. By the end of the meal we had drawn up a huge list of things to do. Over the next three months we worked together and created Douban Read.”

“Looking at what we have achieved, it is clear that you can be entrepreneurial from within a large organisation.

Others are now looking at what we are doing, as they realise this new network has huge potential” 38

Image © Douban Group

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Yuri Suzuki Sound Artist and Designer. UK / Japan

yurisuzuki.com | @yurisuzuki

Yuri’s work blends technological know-how and great ideas with playful, thought-provoking results. His work includes The Sound of the Earth, a spherical record that takes listeners on an aural journey around the world in 30 minutes, to Garden of Russolo, an interactive sound installation that allows visitors to engage in a sonic experience using their own voice.

In a collaboration with Technology Will Save Us, he created Denki Puzzle, a DIY kit comprising of bespoke printed circuit board pieces, which when assembled, could be made into actual working appliances, such as radios or a lighting system.

Yuri collaborates with people worldwide and was recently commissioned by onedotzero to be part of their cascade_za workshop and create a piece of work as part of Connect ZA, the British Council’s 2014-16 UK/South Africa cultural season.

As the first Tshimologong Precinct Resident, he worked with local artists Bogosi Sekhukhuni, Neo Mahlasela and technologist Nathan Gates, to hack musical instruments and create quirky, intriguing performances in public space.

“I am fascinated by the accessibility of technology and user interaction. Denki Puzzle allows users to easily build working appliances, and through the process of assembly, gain an understanding and appreciation of more complex technologies.

I hope this project encourages people to think about technology and have the confidence to fix their own electronic devices.”

“My work is interdisciplinary, bringing together interactive design, music, art, electronics and people. I am interested in the relation between sound and people, and how music and sound affects people’s minds.”

Image from onedotzero’s Cascade_za workshop, part of Connect ZA 40

in Johannesburg, South Africa © Yuri Suzuki 2014

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Effective networks are built on participation and collaboration with few spectators, which despite complexity, function effectively due to a bias for participation, over the domination typically seen in institutional and market based forms.

‘The network’ itself is now increasingly turning its hand to reimagining and reengineering global and local infrastructure – from crypto currencies such as Bitcoin, to designing free to use agricultural equipment, open sourcing code on GitHub and open secrets through the likes of Wikileaks: these changes are fundamentally shifting the ‘business as usual’ mentality and effectiveness of existing organisational forms such as the marketplace, nation states and our hallowed institutions.

Technology is not the meaning: it’s the material. As a producer, I see how artistic practice spills out beyond the boundaries of what would traditionally be viewed as visual arts. From using obsolete industrial CNC machines through to drones reimagined as cultural objects, technology is utilised in ways beyond its intent. These innovative forms of display attract and intrigue new and diverse audiences, drawing attention to the creative and entrepreneurial possibilities when working directly with manufacturers and skilled makers.

KERI ELMSLY Arts Producer and Founder, Elmsly

BEN VICKERS Curator of Digital at Serpentine Galleries, Facilitator of unMonastery and Co-Director of LimaZulu Project Space.

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Image © FutureEverything

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Tom Tobia Director & Co-founder, Makerversity. UK

makerversity.co.uk | tomtobia.com | makerlibrarynetwork.org | @makerversity | @tomtobia

Makerversity is an affordable and accessible making and learning space in the heart of London for a community of cutting-edge businesses and the next generation of creative and practical minds.

“The beginnings of Makerversity were rough and ready. It was mugs of tea, dustpans and brushes and our mums painting walls. The people who got involved and became part of Makerversity early on, who believed in us - when we were just big ideas, big mouths and with a big task on our hands - were the start of our ever-growing community.”

Through the workspace, tools, kit, networks and events, Makerversity supports emerging ideas within design and digital manufacturing: from pioneering new technologies to traditional practice powered by an experimental business model.

“Our aim now is to be the beating heart of the UK’s 21st century manufacturing industry. We believe that by bringing together a community of makers, designers, radicals and pioneers, beautiful, unusual and progressive things will happen.”

Tom has spoken at TEDx, and the Houses of Parliament, is an RSA Design Award winner and his work has been exhibited at The V&A Museum & The Design Museum.

Makerversity is part of The Maker Library Network, a British Council project commissioned as part of Connect ZA, the 2014-16 UK/South Africa cultural season.

“At Makerversity our focus in on two communities - the community of maker businesses that constitute our growing membership, and the wider community; people of all ages and backgrounds who would like to learn more about digital manufacturing and hands on learning in an education or employment context.”

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Image © Tom Tobia

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Watershed watershed.co.uk | @wshed

It’s always inspiring to learn about the people and ideas that the British Council Creative Economy team support worldwide. We were delighted to partner with them to curate and produce Blurring the Lines, and have had great pleasure connecting with these amazing practitioners, and collaborating with them to discover and share their stories.

Watershed is a cultural innovation centre rooted in Bristol, UK with international ambition and reach. Our engagement cuts across film, music, theatre, design, visual art, and the creative and technology sectors, so working to share the ideas of practitioners around the world as part of Blurring the Lines fits perfectly with our ethos.

It has also been a pleasure to collaborate with our co-curator Ian Danby. His background in arts programming and production has been integral to the making of Blurring the Lines, from selection, to shaping the stories, to design and installation.

We hope that these stories encourage you to get out there yourself and participate in making our world a better place – a place where the lines are blurred, the edges are stood on, and change is a reality.

Victoria Tillotson Producer and Co-curator, Watershed

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Image Š Max McClure 2014

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THANKS

Watershed and the British Council would like to thank: Curator and producer Ian Danby, who has been integral to the creation of the show Illustrator Ella Britton, for the wonderful drawings that have appeared throughout this publication Katy Beale, for production of this publication Cassie Robinson, Shelagh Wright, Peter Jenkinson and Rebecca Ladbury for their insight and support Stand and Stare for the Video Jukebox and Dan Williams for the sound cans that featured in the exhibition All the participants, who have been so generous with their time and ideas And finally design studio Play Nicely, for bringing the exhibition and publication to life.

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Blurring the Lines An exhibition about culture in flux

Autumn 2014

Produced by Watershed with the British Council Creative Economy team britishcouncil.org/creativeconomy @UK_CE | @wshed Image: © Aquatic Pathways Max McClure 2014