The ability of digital media to add an extra layer to the cityscape characterizes the experience of the city as mobile phones, cameras, media facades and other interfaces diffuses into the urban scenery. In the urban interface we find lexical indexes linked to maps, links to other places and images of what used to be at a specific location, surveillance devices, etc. The seminar focuses on how and in what ways we can experience the city’s layers and the simultaneous view of (past, lost, virtual, future) information and a specific location – through artistic installations, urban games or architectural strategies.

Time and Place

Wednesday, March 10, 2010, 10.00-15.30, Kasernescenen, Langelandsgade 139

Programme

(IN ENGLISH)

10.00-10.15    Welcome & Introduction / Christian Ulrik Andersen (DUL)

10.15-11.00    Morten Breinbjerg - on 'haunted places' – control/power, representation, and design–

11.00-12.00    Max Schneider - on soundscapes in interfaces and displays

LUNCH

(IN DANISH)

13.00-13.40    Lars Bo Løfgreen - on urban texting

13.45-14.20    Thomas Delman - on the use of interactive and digital (art) installations as tools for 'utopiatyping'

BREAK

14.30-15.00    Mads Rosendahl Thomsen - on presence and memory

15.00-15.30    Debate

Participants

Morten Breinbjerg, associate professor, Information Studies, DUL

Thomas Delman, partner in Kollision & Ph.D candidate, Aarhus School of Architecture

Lars Bo Løfgreen, Ph.D candidate, Information Studies, DUL

Max Schneider, Sound artist, Berlin

Mads Rosendahl Thomsen, associate professor, Dept. of Aesthetics

Arrangement: Christian Ulrik Andersen (IMV & DUL) og Mads Rosendahl Thomsen (IÆF)

The seminar is a work-in-progress seminar and the length of the final papers is relatively short (see CfP on the above link). Contributions can thus be made in the spirit of a position paper, where you present a hypothesis, a project or a specific position on a topic related to the seminar theme with the purpose of contributing to and maybe initiating a broader discussion amongst peers when we meet.

The seminar is aimed at the members of the Nordic Network, but contributions from researchers from outside of the network are greatly welcomed. So don't hesitate to contact us and please feel free redistribute this call.

Deadline for abstracts is 18 Feb, but we will be able to extend your deadline if you express your interest in participating right away.

DUL were involved in a number of activities during the recent UN climate change summit, COP15, in Copenhagen. But some focus was given to extending the event to the streets of Aarhus (Denmark's second largest city) in the shape of "Klimakanalen" (The Climate Channel). With a simple but varied setup -- a mobile urban screen, original content (news flashes, twitter comments, ticker, images, movies, citizen info, advice) and a cross-media infrastructure (app, mobile and web) -- journalists, citizens and activists brought the event and the theme of climate change to Aarhus as well.

Apart from the DUL partners IMV and UPDATE, external partners in the project include: JP.dk (Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten), Aarhus Municipality (Teknik og Miljø + Biblioteker & Borgerservice), 3 (the mobile telco), and the Alexandra Institute.

For further information, contact project lead Martin Brynskov.

Pledge your $10 and get access to the big event on Kickstarter.com:

We have run Talkaokes at Hopenhagen at Rådhuspladsen. It has been a very rich experience with lots of people coming. Images here

Get the "Klimatrends" app free in iTunes App Store (Danish only – Danish info here)

* Tilt
* Shake
* Tweet
– and be climate trendy

The climate trend app is an innovative and different way to keep up with news, opinions, emotions and environmental sensors before, under and after COP15, the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (December 7-18, 2009).

The app is not simply a newsreader, a social network, a measuring apparatus or a game. It's a bit of all of that, and more.

* The ocean level indicates the climate situation right now. The worse the situation, the higher the water level. The level is not an exact measure but a reflection of many impressions.
* The ice floes that emerge from below are opinions, articles and readings from CO2 sensors in Copenhagen.
* Tap an ice floe to investigate it further.
* If you are a Twitter user, you can influence the situation, both in the application and through other Twitter applications (by adding #jpklima in a tweet).
* You can follow other people and see what they think and how they feel right now about the climate situation.

The app was created by Center for Digital Urban Living (Aarhus University) in collaboration with Jyllands-Posten (jp.dk) and 3 (3.dk).

You're most welcome to provide feedback to the developers at klimatrends@digitalurbanliving.dk.

Contact info
* Klimatrends (iPhone app) and Civic Communication: Martin Brynskov, assistant professor, Dept. of Information Studies, Aarhus University (brynskov@imv.au.dk, mobile (+45) 30 68 04 24).
* For info about DUL in general: Kim Halskov, professor, Information Studies, Aarhus University (halskov@imv.au.dk).

• About DUL in general
• Planetary Pledge Pyramid
• Climate on the Wall (Klima-væggen)
• World Expo Shanghai 2010
• Atmosphere – the sound of CO2
• Klimatrends (iPhone app)

Download the entire program here: Harddisken week 49 [MP3] (original air date: December 2, 2009).

Read the eMagazine about Indonesia [in Danish].

Another eMagazine on climate issues has been produced in cooperation with Jyllands-Posten. See them both at www.jp.dk/klima.

In this game all ideas come from the participants, who themselves back the best ideas with real money to make them happen. At a time when the politicians may very well fail in deciding anything on the climate issue, Planetary Pledge Pyramid introduces an alternative system for decision-making and effectuation. http://apps.facebook.com/pppgame/

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Or is it only natural (sic) and necessary that artists enter the debate? Is it perhaps an integral question to art, that has often been concerned with depicting nature, landscapes, changing realities? Does digital art have a special role or potential?

Read articles (e.g. Søren Pold's "Imaginary Interfaces in the Blue Sky" that argues for the special potential of digital art in relation to climate change) and enter the debate staged around the Rethink exhibitions (SMK, Nikolaj, Den Frie and don’t forget Moesgaard!) here: http://www.rethinkclimate.org/debat/rethink-art/

Digital Urban Living is participating in COP 15 and Rethink with several projects. More about this soon!