Latin(o) American Digital Art: Exhibitions and Audience-Participation Workshops

This project follows on from my AHRC Fellowship which focussed on how Latin(o) American online cultural producers represent key locations in Latin America in their works. In the course of researching my Fellowship, which fell under the AHRC's Digital Transformations highlight, I identified 3 particular trends: firstly, the practices of tactical media, whereby Latin(o) American new media artists employ digital technologies against the grain; secondly, the fact that online technologies are often employed to represent offline place; and thirdly, that new media art combines digital participation with offline intervention. These 3 findings now inform the current proposal, which will enable me to communicate these findings to a wide range of stakeholders and to put into practice these concepts in a series of workshops, collaborative events and exhibitions.

This new proposed project builds upon my previous research, but moves beyond the realm of academic research. Over the course of the year, a series of forms of collaboration, engagement and impact will be held involving 4 principal groups: third sector community media organizations; art galleries and museums; artists and cultural producers; and spectators and audiences.

The project aims, firstly, to draw out interconnections between the digital art examined in the previous Fellowship and other regional and national contexts, enabling the sharing of ideas between Latin(o) American new media artists and third sector collaborative media projects in Liverpool. Secondly, the project aims to foster and exhibit art works that reach out beyond the usual contours of cultural-artistic practice, encouraging participatory digital art works with spectators enabled as active co-creators. Thirdly, the project aims to bridge the gap between social media and cultural-artistic practice to encourage reflective use of social media as potential feedback loops for artistic and curatorial practice.Fourthly, the project aims to address the existing gap in curatorial practice in new media festivals in the UK, in which Latin(o) Americans are currently under-represented, and so raise the profile of these artists, bring their work to a UK audience, and provide for innovative forms of engagement with their practice.

In order to achieve these aims, the project plans a series of activities structured over the course of an 11-month period. These include a 2-month Artist in Residence Scheme, held jointly at the University of Liverpool and FACT art gallery; an original artwork developed by the artist; a visit of 3 further Invited Artists for a shorter, 10-day period; an exhibition, entitled Cities in Dialogue, at the Independents Liverpool Biennial, 2014; and a series of shared themed workshops with the Liverpool-based community media projects, Veterans in Practice, Tenantspin and Freehand. The project will also trial throughout the year open-ended participatory audience platforms making use of social media, which will be integrated into the workshops, exhibition and Residency mentioned above, but also continuing beyond these.

The project also includes 3 written outputs, comprising firstly the Programme Notes to accompany the Cities in Dialogue exhibition for the Independents Liverpool Biennial 2014, which will include interviews with the artists, contextual information about their practice, and an introduction to the works in the exhibition. The second written output is a Retrospective volume on the exhibition targeted at a general audience, and including introductory pieces explaining the context, interviews with the artists, conversations with the third sector organizations, observations of the works in progress and colour photographs of the works. The third written output will be a short Policy Document for FACT, the Independents Liverpool Biennial and other new media and contemporary art venues, summing up the main findings during the course of the project.

The impact strategies for this project provide for collaboration, engagement and impact involving 4 principal groups of beneficiaries: third sector community media organizations; art galleries and museums; spectators and audiences; and artists and cultural producers.

The third sector community media organizations comprise principally, although are not limited to, VIP, a digital arts project working with military veterans; Freehand, a programme for young people; and Tenantspin, a community media group for social housing tenants. Anticipated benefits for this group are: opportunities to feed into the collaborative art work developed by the AiR; learning about and sharing best practice in new media; an increased awareness of the uses of social media for cultural expression; and taking ownership of social media platforms beyond the lifetime of the grant. Wider benefits for these groups also include contributions to health and wellbeing; for instance, the VIP project functions as part of the Liverpool Veterans wellbeing programme which aims for a holistic approach to wellbeing through cultural participation, and so leads to improvement in quality of life for its participants.

The beneficiary art galleries and art institutions involve particularly, although not exclusively, FACT, the UK's leading media arts centre, and the Independents Liverpool Biennial, the UK's largest contemporary art festival. Anticipated benefits for this group include: a broader geographical spread of artists within their exhibitions and spaces; the opportunity to showcase innovative participatory works; opportunities for longer term collaboration with the artists beyond the lifetime of the grant; increased publicity for both institutions through the events and Retrospective volume; and insights from the policy document which will help with forward planning of future digital media interventions. Again, there are also wider benefits arising; for instance, FACT is a member of LARC (Liverpool Arts Regeneration Consortium), and the proposed collaborations, in particular the dialogues with and uses of city spaces by the artists, will feed into LARC's aim of the cultural sector playing a significant role in the regeneration of the Liverpool city region and quality of life. Moreover, the sharing of the policy document with a range of other new media and contemporary art institutions nationally and internationally will ensure benefits are not limited to the two named institutions, and will have a reach well beyond Liverpool.

The beneficiary audiences and festival-goers comprise those attending the Liverpool Biennial 2014 and those visiting FACT's galleries. Benefits for this particular group include: a greater knowledge of Latin(o) American new media art; an increased participatory role with works of art; the opportunity to engage in real-time comment and feedback on the works; the opportunity to observe the work in progress of the AiR; an enhanced understanding of new media arts; the opportunity to hear about the works and their context from the PI, AiR and Invited Artists' talks and the programme notes.

The beneficiary artists comprise principally the AiR and the Invited Artists, although broader benefits for the wider Latin(o) American digital art community are envisaged. Benefits for the artists include: the opportunity to gain greater exposure; the ability to construct a higher profile within UK new media circuits; the chance to share best practice; and the opportunity for sustained engagement with each other's work around a clear shared theme.

In addition to these named beneficiaries, due to the multiple forms of dissemination and engagement, members of the general public, even those not attending the events in person, will benefit from the opportunity to view the works online, engage in debates and contribute to the social media feedback platforms, access the Exhibition programme notes online and read the retrospective volume.