Smoke Signals Performance by Minimaforms

Minimaforms
Smoke Signals: Bristol

UK/US collective Minimaforms bring the ancient 'smoke signal' system into the digital age. Text your messages for projection onto plumes of smoke at two city sites: outside Watershed floating across the harbour or to the OFFLOAD concert space in a disused cathedral on Park Place. The project creates two large cloud environments the public will be able interact and communicate through. The clouds structure will perform as collective thought machines, speaking and processing a network of messages via sms and online interfacing creating a participatory structure as a collective act of writing space.

Offload Festival
Offload is the UK's first network media and systems arts event on nature sustainability and ecology. The event brings together international, national and local artists and practitioners interested in creating work that use new and existing media. Offload is interested in interactive, playful, participatory and socially aware practice.

Concept:
Smoke Signals is based on one of the oldest forms of communication in recorded history dating back over 5,000 years. The project works as a hybrid system that explores the dynamic and spatial capacities of smoke and light in relation to contemporary mobile SMS technologies of messaging today. The project examines a dynamic real-time interaction that writes space. Smoke and light setup the condition for developing a typographic ambient / responsive environment.

Participants are invited to communicate with the project by sending SMS messages to one of two smoke signals located at the event. Remote participants can send messages through our Real-Time Virtual Interface.

Project Links:
http://www.memorycloud.com
http://www.minimaforms.com/
http://www.offloadfestival.org/offload07/?page_id8
http://www.connectingbristol.org/2007/08/09/offload-systems-for-survival/
http://www.watershed.co.uk/cgi-bin/WebObjects/Watershed.woa/wa/exhibit?daysToDisplay=2&typesToDisplay=0&object75