PH.

$2 – 16 February 2013 mon – sat 12-6pm Preview: Fri 1 February 6-9pm NewBridge Project Space / 16 New Bridge Street West / NE1 8AW Refractive Index by Jamie Allen takes the infrastructure of public media screens and turns them into digital camera obscura. The use of these screens as a broadcast system is inverted: We see what they see, standing aloft, peering out into the night sky. PH. are pleased to present an exhibition of film and digital print that shows the reflective and refractive power of public media displays and maps the journey of Refractive Index across various national and international city screens during 2012. In 2012 Refractive Index was initiated to map the effects that a nationwide project to mediatize public spaces was having on city architecture, movement, land and light-scapes. The exhibition presents ways in which public screens radiate and resonate with the materials and environments of city spaces. Through a variety of different media we are presented with a set a research results of what happens when you look the other way or view the city as the screen itself might. Refractive Index is an art research project that uses specially developed imagery and software to mark the physical effect that media displays have on cities, architecture and space. Public media systems have become a fixture in our city centres, peaking in the UK during the London 2012 Games, and delivering near constant content to the giant living rooms of Manchester, Swansea, and Middlesbrough. What do the screens do to how we perceive city space, and how do we understand their architectural and luminous presences? These are certainly more than just “big tv’s”? Surrounding architectures alight with every pixel these screens project. Looking away from the screen, we see the reflections and shadows, the materials and colorations, that will increasingly become the hallmarks of urban life in a mediatize landscape. Refractive Index inverses traditional functions of media systems, inviting observation of the environment out front of these screens, and see the resonances and vibrations exist here. “What does the screen see?” RI was in collaboration with London 2012 Creative Programming, BBC Big Screens Programme, Tom Schofield and David Gauthier. Jamie Allen likes to make things with his head and hands. These things involve our relationships to creativity, technology and resources – and mostly try and give people new, subversive and fun ways to interact with all of these. Jamie was born in Canada and is currently Head of Research at the Copenhagen Institute of Interactive Design. His work has been shown internationally – Eyebeam (NYC), FACT (UK), Korea Foundation (KR), Transitio (MX), Sonic Circuits (DC), Nikolaj Copenhagen Contemporary Art Centre (DK), and many more.$

2 – 16 February 2013 mon – sat 12-6pm

Preview: Fri 1 February 6-9pm

NewBridge Project Space / 16 New Bridge Street West / NE1 8AW

Refractive Index by Jamie Allen takes the infrastructure of public media screens and turns them into digital camera obscura. The use of these screens as a broadcast system is inverted: We see what they see, standing aloft, peering out into the night sky.

PH. are pleased to present an exhibition of film and digital print that shows the reflective and refractive power of public media displays and maps the journey of Refractive Index across various national and international city screens during 2012.

In 2012 Refractive Index was initiated to map the effects that a nationwide project to mediatize public spaces was having on city architecture, movement, land and light-scapes. The exhibition presents ways in which public screens radiate and resonate with the materials and environments of city spaces. Through a variety of different media we are presented with a set a research results of what happens when you look the other way or view the city as the screen itself might.

Refractive Index is an art research project that uses specially developed imagery and software to mark the physical effect that media displays have on cities, architecture and space. Public media systems have become a fixture in our city centres, peaking in the UK during the London 2012 Games, and delivering near constant content to the giant living rooms of Manchester, Swansea, and Middlesbrough. What do the screens do to how we perceive city space, and how do we understand their architectural and luminous presences? These are certainly more than just “big tv’s”? Surrounding architectures alight with every pixel these screens project. Looking away from the screen, we see the reflections and shadows, the materials and colorations, that will increasingly become the hallmarks of urban life in a mediatize landscape. Refractive Index inverses traditional functions of media systems, inviting observation of the environment out front of these screens, and see the resonances and vibrations exist here. “What does the screen see?”

RI was in collaboration with London 2012 Creative Programming, BBC Big Screens Programme, Tom Schofield and David Gauthier.

Jamie Allen likes to make things with his head and hands. These things involve our relationships to creativity, technology and resources – and mostly try and give people new, subversive and fun ways to interact with all of these. Jamie was born in Canada and is currently Head of Research at the Copenhagen Institute of Interactive Design. His work has been shown internationally – Eyebeam (NYC), FACT (UK), Korea Foundation (KR), Transitio (MX), Sonic Circuits (DC), Nikolaj Copenhagen Contemporary Art Centre (DK), and many more.

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Dancing for the Dead: Funeral Strippers in Taiwan (screening / talk)

Tuesday 4 Dec 19:30

PH Space : The Newbridge Project

You are invited to an evening at PH Space curated by Ko-Le Chen.

‘Dancing for the Dead: Funeral Strippers in Taiwan’ by anthropologist Marc L. Moskowitz presents a fascinating account of this folk practice within the context of religion practices. The interview-driven film — interspersed with stripping performances, pilgrimages and other common religious practices — reveals many of the dichotomies in contemporary Taiwan: rural tradition versus urban modernity; mainstream pop culture versus marginal folk culture; global capitalism versus local identity; and the thin and shifting line between legal and illegal behavior.

Ko-Le Chen will introduce the documentary, sharing personal accounts of the rich (and sometimes absurd) nature of Buddhist/Taoist rituals in Taiwan. Ko-Le will discuss her experiences from this summer, which she spent in Taiwan, providing an almost alternative travel guide for the subtropical island she calls home.

Ko-Le Chen is a PhD student at Culture Lab, Newcastle University. Originally from Taiwan, she has been living/working in Newcastle since 2008. Marc L. Moskowitz, an associate professor at the Department of Anthropology of the University of South Carolina and an expert on Taiwan’s folk religion and popular culture.

Please rsvp to charlie@ph-space.co.uk

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