Presentation for the Techno Ecologies panel at Media Art Histories 2013 conference Riga. Full paper to follow. More information here http://renew.rixc.lv/sessions/techno-ecologies.php?s=conor-mcgarrigle and conormcgarrigle.com

1. Locative Histories: exploring the continued influence of early Locative Media art
Conor McGarrigle, Emergent Digital Practices, University of Denver
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2. Ben Russell (1999)
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3. every room has an accessible history
every place has emotional attachments you can open and save
you can search for sadness in New York
everything in the world, animate and inanimate, abstract and concrete,
has thoughts attached
Sex and even love are easier to find.
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4. what was once the sole preserve of builders, architects and engineers
falls into the hands of everyone: the ability to shape and organise the real
world and the real space
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5. Karosta Locative Workshop (2003)
The international workshop entitled "Locative media" will focus on GPS,
mapping and positioning technologies, and how wireless networking
impact on notions of space time and social organization
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6. mapping from below; creating context for mobile/digital art; mobile ad
hoc social networks as the next social revolution; text-messaging +
hyper-coordination; technologies of co-operation amplification & the
'wireless commons' debate; netwar + the appropriation of surveillance
technologies by tactical media; and the relation between new locative
media and magik.
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7. (Locative Media is) a new site for old discussions about the relationship of
consciousness to place and other people.
A framework within which to actively engage with, critique, and shape a
rapid set of technological developments.
A context within which to explore new and old models of communication,
community and exchange.
Ben Russell TCM Reader (2004)
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8. 56°57'30.04”N 24°06'39.20”E
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9. 'position' : instrumentalized localization of space as points in a
Cartesian grid
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10. 'position' : instrumentalized localization of space as points in a
Cartesian grid
‘location’ : the space of individuals and communities, replete
with histories, narratives and layers of association, which imbue
place with meaning and which can be revealed and augmented
through the application of locative technologies
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11. Urban Tapestries (2002-2007)
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12. Urban Tapestries is a Proboscis project exploring social and
cultural uses of the convergence of place and mobile
technologies through transdisciplinary research. To help us
model emerging social and cultural behaviours we have built an
experimental platform that allows people to author and access
place-based content (text, audio and pictures). It is a
framework for exploring and sharing experience and knowledge,
for leaving and annotating ephemeral traces of peoples’
presence in the geography of the city.
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13. “what it was about local places that mattered to people as
they went about their daily routines. True daily life is richer
and more complex than the traditional view, relying as much
on social networks, personal experiences, and chance
interactions and connections, so pervasive computing
applications should attempt to reflect this”
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14. ...ways users engage with technology, the usage modes and habits
which grow up around new technologies. (Agre)
...how the world reveals itself to us as one that is meaningful for
particular sorts of actions. (Dourish)
Technologies do not conform politely to predetermined or intended
functions” rather uses and functions are revealed through practice.
(Coyne)
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15. NAMAland
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16. Teri Rueb (1999) Trace
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17. Esther Polaak, Leva Auzina and Rixc (2004) Milk Project
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26. Thank you!
conormcgarrigle.com
conormcgarrigle@gmail.com
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