Technology
Transforming Culture with Mobiles
Culture has always been a schizophrenic area of life. On the one hand, it's been dominated by private pleasures and on the other it's driven by shared passions. In many ways, it's been a clash between special places and open spaces, between the fixed and the mobile.
Ring. Ring. Turn that bloody phone off! Mobile phones and culture are not necessarily seen as natural bedfellows. This thought piece will hopefully give you reason to reconsider your natural aversion and help you to embrace this most popular and democratic of modern technological innovations. In order to do this, I'm going to take you through the changing uses of technology in cultural venues and finally see how the future may unfold.
"Old-school 2D and 3D art was slowly being overtaken by the digital experience and venues were full of children pushing buttons and staring at screens. Would plain old art survive for much longer?"
Culture started as a means to extend and share our understanding of each other and the world around us. Over time it became the domain of the rich and powerful, an eminently sophisticated preoccupation to be enjoyed in the pleasure of private homes and palaces or occasionally glimpsed by the populace on the outside of finer dwellings and institutions. More recently, culture has taken its place in public life, most notably in the great galleries and museums that have been bestowed on our nation by the more philanthropic of our colonial entrepreneurs.
These museums and galleries became shrines to art and learning, places of quiet contemplation, respectful awe and the occasional domain of diligent students or frosty dames on a daily guided tour. Technology was neither present nor desired.
As the demand for culture increased, venues became more interested in the way technology could be used to provide a richer and less static experience. Televisions and video recorders brought the moving image into once-hallowed halls and audio guides gave us the voices of the more eloquent curator, just where we needed them - in front of the works of art. The artefact almost became a prop to support a multimedia interpretation of the object and the audience wasn't sure whether it should look at the art or watch the show. The experience became as important as the work itself.
"Venues are recognising that their role is not simply one of professional archivist, but also of social transformer. 'Power to the people' is the motto of the new millennium."
By the 1990s, the more advanced venues and artists had embraced computers and interactive displays. Old school 2D and 3D art was slowly being overtaken by the digital experience and venues were full of children pushing buttons and staring at screens. Would plain old art survive for much longer?
At this point, the World Wide Web hit us hard in the face. Suddenly, the whole knowledge of the world could be brought directly to our living rooms. Perhaps we wouldn't need to visit venues anymore? But in truth, people were still moved to see the real thing. While venues have developed more and more sophisticated websites, they are still primarily second-class citizens in comparison to the real McCoy. While I have seen many beautiful websites that present useful information and challenging interactive and social opportunities, they remain, thankfully, an adjunct to the physical experience.
At this point, we could imagine a world in stasis. Museums and galleries could let the objects speak for themselves in the physical space while providing more and more elegant interpretative tools online. Everyone would be happy and we could go home to watch the next episode of Big Brother.
"When these activities are guided by a task, you become your own curator or detective, selecting objects based on a theme or collecting evidence to prove or disprove a theory."
Fortunately, the world continues to evolve. Flash mobs (spontaneous gatherings organised by mobile phone), digital cameras and mobile phones are putting more and more power into the hands of the individual, and venues are recognising that their role is not simply one of professional archivist, but also of social transformer. 'Power to the people' is the motto of the new millennium.
Currently, venues can choose from a number of mobile services. Audio guides remain popular, although it's likely they'll be replaced by podcasts or richer mobile environments like Antenna Audio's Multimedia Guides. Street Access has provided Dulwich Picture Gallery with a 'web in your pocket' service that allows student visitors to follow predetermined web trails, allowing them to answer multiple choice questions or learn about particular aspects of art on a WiFi-enabled pocket PC.
At the SEA, which works at the frontier of design and technology to improve services and service innovation, we had the idea of allowing visitors to create their own galleries or trails using mobile phones and were fortunate to receive initial funding from Culture Online. With Myartspace, students or visitors use mobile phones to collect objects with their own comments attached, discover more about them, and act as journalists to record their own photos and voice notes.
When these activities are guided by a task, you become your own curator or detective, selecting objects based on a theme or collecting evidence to prove or disprove a theory. It is a game-like experience that is part of an active and constructive learning style that also appeals to a more social approach to media and the web in general. Back at home or school, students can visit a personal website where they can copy someone else's content, add and edit their material and describe their learning through the creation of multimedia galleries.
Just as YouTube and blogger are disrupting the nature of broadcast media, we believe that services like Myartspace will disrupt the nature of the venue. It will no longer be a place to consume art, it will also be a place to create it and comment on it within an extended social network. As organisers of the Take Away Museum have said: 'The transformation of museum visits from reactive consumption to public production is dramatic, and many museums still seem to consider how far they could and should go without risking museums as professional institutions of cultural and material history.'
"You'll enter a venue, open your phone, click on an application icon and choose between following a trail and making a trail. You'll be able to comment on the works in front of you and share your comments with your friends or the world."
In the future, we hope that everyone's mobile phone will be a tool for constructive interaction and dialogue. You'll enter a venue, open your phone, click on an application icon and choose between following a trail and making a trail. You'll be able to comment on the works in front of you and share your comments with your friends or the world. You'll not only be able to follow the stories of the artist or the experienced curator, but also follow a trail that suits your mood, one made by your daughter or perhaps one made by the critic you like on Radio 4.
Better still, you'll be able to record your experience in the venue and instead of sending your friends a postcard from the Tate, you'll be able to send them your own Tate Tale, about the spring day you discovered your own reason for loving the colours yellow and green.
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