Mobile and Locative Art

For An Art Against the Cartography of Everyday Life

by Ryan Griffis

For An Art Against the Cartography of Everyday Life

The research firm Strategy Analytics estimates that... more For An Art Against the Cartography of Everyday Life

The research firm Strategy Analytics estimates that over 18 million Global Position System (GPS) devices, including those built into cell phones, cars and handheld computers, were sold worldwide in 2005 (http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Business/162138/). They predict that number to grow to 88 million by 2010. Such devices, along with popular web services linking photographic representations of the earth with the mathematical grid of latitudes and longitudes, like Google Earth and Yahoo! maps, have helped enable a growing form of amateur cartography. As spatial annotation techniques - linking information to geospatial coordinates - develop parallel to the growing trend in amateur media production and distribution tools, naturalistic forms of representation find new value in their ability to be objectively located.

What role does the expansion of cartography into the "everyday" of the wired classes in the Global North mean? If the history of maps, delineating colonial conquests, bombing targets and redlined real estate, can be all too easily identified as one of Walter Benjamin's "documents of barbarism," what can we make of the present cartography of the everyday? What is being archived in the vast databases of the documented movements and minutiae of the GPS-enabled masses?

The artist and writer Alan Sekula, discussing the politics of photographic archives, once wrote that archives need to be read "from below, from a position of solidarity with those displaced, deformed, silenced, or made invisible by the machineries of profit and progress." This paper seeks to read the technologies and methods found in contemporary, popular cartography through the critical discourse surrounding archives and documentary modes of representation, as well as explore the work of artists and activists creating mapping "from below" to produce "counter-cartographies."

MobiMissions: the game of missions for mobile phones

by Lyndsay Grant

Performing technologies for performed territories

by Federica Timeto

Unpublished paper, delivered at the Borderscapes conference, Trapani, Sept. 2009. Please do not quote without permission.

Location and Mediation in Networked Space

by Federica Timeto

published in the CRXII conference proceedings, Artshare, 2011, pp. 252-258.

IN THE MIDDLES OF URBAN SPACE. The case of Critical City Upload

by Federica Timeto

Paper delivered at the ECREA temporary working group "Media & The city" workshop, Feb. 2012, unpublished. Please do not quote without permission.

Movimenti Relazioni Incontri

by Federica Timeto

pubblicato su "Duellanti", Dicembre 2011, pp. 98-99.

Serious Urban Games. From play in the city to play for the city

by Gabriele Ferri

Co-authored with Patrick Coppock.
Presented at "Media & the City" TWG ECREA Workshop

E-Tower and the Public Sphere

by Dave Colangelo

Co-authored with Patricio Davila for Large Displays In Urban Life, CHI, Vancouver 2011.

In this paper we describe the theoretical background of E-Tower, a mobile phone based interactive installation with... more In this paper we describe the theoretical background of E-Tower, a mobile phone based interactive installation with the CN Tower for Toronto’s Nuit Blanche 2010.

Permeable and Elastic Terrains

by Rob Saunders

Co-authored with Petra Gemeinboeck and Andy Dong.

In this paper we discuss the development of an interactive, networked, location- and motion-aware instrument for... more In this paper we discuss the development of an interactive, networked, location- and motion-aware instrument for collectively sculpting the urban fabric. Our research interprets the city surface as a ‘thick’, elastic, and permeable medium that responds to the migrational flows of its inhabitants. The mobile artwork Impossible Geographies 02: Urban Fiction explores the subjective, hybrid, and migrational nature of urban geographies. Doing so, it develops a location-aware prosthesis that involves bodies and how they move through space. The mobile instruments become the lens through which to look at and modulate the virtual fabric and its threads. Its digital landscape presents a dynamic, negotiable terrain that involves multiple authors and produces multiple viewpoints. Constantly resculpting the virtual ‘fabric’ of Urban Fiction, participants collectively weave a performative map of a subjective urban geography.

displacement

by Valerio Bindi

co-authored with Francesca Iovino published in virose/cluster/act dec 2003

Collaborative use of mobile augmented reality with paper maps

by Ann Morrison

Ann Morrison, Alessandro Mulloni, Saija Lemmelä, Antti Oulasvirta, Giulio Jacucci, Peter Peltonen, Dieter Schmalstieg, Holger Regenbrecht

Computers & Graphics, Special Edition on Mobile AR (in press), 2011.
DOI information: 10.1016/j.cag.2011.04.009

The popularity of augmented reality (AR) applications on mobile devices is increasing, but there is as yet little... more The popularity of augmented reality (AR) applications on mobile devices is increasing, but there is as yet little research on use in real settings. We review data from two pioneering field trials where MapLens, a magic lens that augments paper-based city maps, was used in small-group collaborative tasks. The first study compared MapLens to a digital version akin to Google Maps, the second looked at using one shared mobile device versus using multiple devices. The studies find place-making and use of artefacts to communicate and establish common ground as predominant modes of interaction in AR-mediated
collaboration with users working on tasks together despite not needing to.

Practices of place-making through locative media artworks

by Gemma San Cornelio

co-authored with Elisenda Ardevol, published in 'Communications: European Journal of Communication Studies' . Volume 36, Issue 3, Pages 313–333, ISSN (Online) 1613-4087, ISSN (Print) 0341-2059, DOI: 10.1515/COMM.2011.016, /September/2011

In recent years, the vast increase in information flows has made it possible to instantly connect location-dependent... more In recent years, the vast increase in information flows has made it possible to instantly connect location-dependent information with physical spaces.
These technologies have provided new forms of the representation of space as much as new forms of perception through tools and techniques used in
land surveying, remote sensing, etc.

From a critical point of view, pervasive computing, location-based applications, or, in other words, “locative media” provide an interesting framework to understand how these technologies relate to our understanding of space and place. Concretely, we want to examine how the uses of locative media in social-oriented artworks interact with people’s sense of place. This article therefore discusses contemporary theories on space related to media and technology with a specific focus on the conceptualization of the notion of place. It also relates these theories to the study of different locative media artworks: Canal Accessible (2006), Bio Mapping (2004), Disappearing Places (2007), and Coffee Deposits (2010). We contend that locative media artworks act upon distinctive ways to understand the mediation of technology in current placemaking practices.

The Rhetoric of Play: Locative Gaming and the Global City

by Dale Leorke

In early discussions of digital networks, many theorists tended to distinguish between the material world of physical... more In early discussions of digital networks, many theorists tended to distinguish between the material world of physical space, and the immaterial realm of cyberspace. But today we are increasingly seeing these two spaces converge as mobile technologies, locative media and digital networks collide with the physical architecture of contemporary cities. Previously separate and disconnected places are being absorbed into the networked space superimposed onto them, creating a ‘hybrid space’ embedded simultaneously in the local and the global. This embeddedness has created the potential for individuals living in these cities to intervene and interact in its public space. This thesis examines one manifestation of these interventions: ‘locative gaming’, or games which are located simultaneously in the physical world, and the virtual space of the game world. These games create their own rules that enable public play, but they must also navigate the rules of the real world, including its laws, social norms, and physical boundaries. As such, I argue these games must create their own ‘rhetoric of play’ to confront the constraints imposed on them from above, and develop a form of play which encourages participation and social relations, while taking into account the unique cultural dimensions of the local places in which they are performed.

Mitigation Of Binaural Front-Back Confusions By Body Motion In Audio Augmented Reality

by Nicholas Mariette

Front-back confusions are a well-known phenomenon of spatial hearing whereby the listener incorrectly localizes a... more Front-back confusions are a well-known phenomenon of spatial hearing whereby the listener incorrectly localizes a source to its mirror image position across the frontal plane. This type of localization error can occur for real and synthetically spatialised sound sources. Experiments have shown the listener can resolve front-back ambiguities by rotating their head; also that sound source movement can resolve confusions if the listener is aware of the intended direction of source movement.
The present outdoors experiment studies the mitigation of front-back confusions for synthetic binaural spatial audio interactive with body movement but not head-turns. This partly disabled mobile augmented reality system renders sound source positions relative to the world reference frame, (so the listener may walk past a stationary spatialised sound), but it renders instantaneous source bearing relative to the listener’s reference frame.
Experiment participants walked past synthetic binaural sound sources with initial azimuths of ±(40°, 60°, 80°, 100°, 120° and 140°) and initial distance of 20 metres. Walk distances were chosen to result in azimuth changes of 4°, 8°, 12° and 16° between initial and final source bearings. Each factor combination resulted in a corresponding source distance change over the course of the walk. Front or back judgments of the initial source positions were recorded before and after walking. Results show statistically significant improvement of front-back localization for source azimuth changes of 12° or 16°, and source distance changes of at least 0.21 of the initial distance.

Perceptual Evaluation of Spatial Audio for “Audio Nomad” Augmented Reality Artworks

by Nicholas Mariette

presented at Engage 2006

Audio Nomad is a three-year art/science research collaboration on the creative and technological potentials of... more Audio Nomad is a three-year art/science research collaboration on the creative and technological potentials of location-sensitive, mobile spatial audio. The first Audio Nomad productions were two versions of Syren – a ship-based multi-speaker installation using the ship’s position from a GPS receiver to render a two- dimensional soundscape. New work including Virtual Wall (Berlin) will create a personal location-sensitive spatial soundscape on headphones using a portable computer, GPS receiver and digital compass. The technological intent is to enable the artist to augment real world objects and spaces with sounds perceived to emanate from them. It is important to know the maximum perceivable accuracy of the intended augmented reality effect, given human and technology limitations, even if soundscape design doesn’t always require maximum precision. Ultimately, authoring software features will inform the artist of afforded perceptual quality, enabling better utilisation of the medium’s potential. Few similar projects have been produced to date and fewer have published quantitative perceptual evaluation research. This paper reviews the field and describes present experimental results and future work on the perceptual evaluation of binaural spatial audio for mobile augmented reality, especially Audio Nomad artworks.

Audio Nomad

by Nicholas Mariette

presented at ION GNSS 2006

Audio Nomad comprises a series of cross-disciplinary art/science projects working on the concept of GPS-driven... more Audio Nomad comprises a series of cross-disciplinary art/science projects working on the concept of GPS-driven location-based audio applications. Project outcomes in the form of artworks enable a user or audience to experience a virtual audio world situated within the real world, as a spatial composition of sounds seeming to originate from real objects. Two-dimensional audio spatialization simulates realistic sound sources, and non-spatialized sounds may also be used as location-based content. Conceptually, sound is used to reveal information or create an aesthetic, often composed of a combination of oral histories, archival audio, site-specific historical information, field recordings, and music. The outcome is a culturally significant public sound artwork utilizing this new location-based audio medium – an application of global positioning, audio technologies, and software engineering.
As GNSS technologies become more ubiquitous, Audio Nomad can take advantage of new platforms such as mobile phones. This unique multidisciplinary collaboration has driven the design of tools with great creative potential to provide new alternative location-based services poised to engage and appeal to the imagination of future GNSS users.

Syren - A Ship Based Location-Aware Audio Experience

by Nicholas Mariette

presented at GNSS 2004, Sydney

Syren, a location-based, multi-speaker augmented audio reality installation was presented as a shipboard exhibit at... more Syren, a location-based, multi-speaker augmented audio reality installation was presented as a shipboard exhibit at the 12th International Symposium on Electronic Art in August 2004. It was conceived as a continuous 3-day spatial audio experience that augments the landscape through the Baltic archipelago with location-based audio media, spatialised through a 12- channel speaker array. As the ship tracks between Helsinki, Mariehamn, Stockholm and Tallinn, listeners on the upper deck hear sounds that are perceived to originate from geographic features. Our custom GIS is derived from electronic nautical charting information that includes coastlines, buoys and beacons. A handheld GPS provides both position and direction data that was used by a software system to drive parameters of the spatial audio presentation. The sound production for the artwork was created using the custom application that enabled the artist to place sound media in relation to a real-world map. An important component to this software was the ability to audition the audio experience without ever taking the journey.

Syren - A Ship Based Location-Aware Audio Experience

by Nicholas Mariette

Journal of Global Positioning Systems (2005)

Syren, a location-based, multi-speaker augmented audio reality installation was presented as a shipboard exhibit at... more Syren, a location-based, multi-speaker augmented audio reality installation was presented as a shipboard exhibit at the 12th International Symposium on Electronic Art in August 2004. It was conceived as a continuous 3-day spatial audio experience that augments the landscape through the Baltic archipelago with location-based audio media, spatialised through a 12- channel speaker array. As the ship tracks between Helsinki, Mariehamn, Stockholm and Tallinn, listeners on the upper deck hear sounds that are perceived to originate from geographic features. Our custom GIS is derived from electronic nautical charting information that includes coastlines, buoys and beacons. A handheld GPS provides both position and direction data that was used by a software system to drive parameters of the spatial audio presentation. The sound production for the artwork was created using the custom application that enabled the artist to place sound media in relation to a real-world map. An important component to this software was the ability to audition the audio experience without ever taking the journey.

Ecology of Embodied Narratives in the Age of Locative Media and Social Networks: a Design Experiment

by Anatole Pierre Fuksas

Co-authored with Kai Pata (Tallinn University), published in «Cognitive Philology» 2 (2009)

A Design-based research tested a Hybrid Ecosystem emerging from collaborative storytelling supported by geo-locative... more A Design-based research tested a Hybrid Ecosystem emerging from collaborative storytelling supported by geo-locative technologies and Social Networking Services. We assumed that such Hybrid Ecosystem emerges when people experience a given environment through their own sensory-motor system while processing related locative media. We found that individual and collaborative activity in a hybrid ecosystem could be described on the basis of the swarming concept from biology.
Indeed, topics and themes seem to emerge, to be narrated and spread on the basis of unplanned, not concerted, polygenetic activity. Interaction basically leads to the emergence of behavioral patterns which immediately develop into mutated forms. As soon as a topic or a theme spread among the community, individual participants start differentiating their unique point of view on it, eventually comparing it with the one of some peers, so as to team up on the basis of affinity.
Literal references emerging from storytelling in hybrid ecosystems outscore metaphorical by far. Rather, comparison is definitely very active as a processing strategy whereas proper metaphors and generalizations emerge on a very limited basis. It looks like individual participants evaluate the collaborative streaming of narrative references as a series of individual, standalone events which are meaningful in themselves, not because the combination of them make it possible to grasp a general meaning.
A more careful assessment of data is very likely needed, but we can already conclude that narratives which emerge in hybrid ecosystems supported by locative technologies and Social Networking Services define the borders of participatory and collaborative story formats which reshape human presence in the environment while redefining the very concept of storytelling.

On flows, places and spaces: towards a framework for Locative Media Artworks

by Gemma San Cornelio

co-authored with Pau Alsina (2010)

The aim of this chapter is two-fold: firstly, we want to dig into an “archaeology” of space-related conceptions... more The aim of this chapter is two-fold: firstly, we want to dig into an “archaeology” of space-related conceptions throughout history, establishing connections between theoretical sources and artistic interpretations of space. The question of space experience and representation has been at the heart of debates on technological developments in our contemporary societies, being approached from very distinct disciplines: from philosophy to architecture, including social sciences, such as anthropology, sociology or geography, or even media studies. We will focus on such theories and concepts in order to highlight different layers of space-related concepts in relation to the practice of  art. Secondly, we will investigate the transformation of the subjective perception of space, through the study of different locative media artworks, as case studies for the use of information and communication technologies. Through the analysis of these theories and practices we will further seek to outline a proper and useful theoretical framework for the current practice of locative media art.