DIFFUSION is a new publishing series which aims to utilise the specific advantages of digital media to create a new means of combining critical thinking and creativity. We were interested in finding ways in which we could commission original writing on the intersections between live or performance art and film, video and new media technologies. Over the years the boundaries between these formerly separate areas of practice have become blurred as artists, thinkers, writers and film and video makers have collaborated and drifted across modes of practice. We sought to find a way to both critically explore this cross-fertilisation and at the same time to re-present and embody these ideas as creative practices in themselves.

The selection of contributors for this first series, PERFORMANCE NOTATIONS, is an eclectic and disparate cross-section of the many hues and shades that performance comprises: from architects to filmmakers, philosophers to poets, all are artists in one way or another, all have an intimate relationship to performance in their work.

These writings are not meant to be read simply as academic exegeses of how performance artists use new media, but as attempts to slip under its skin. To this end we have devised the downloadable books which are designed to be printed out and made into books by the readers, inculpating them into the production of performance and the work through their own act of making.

Thanks are due to the contributors and the two designers who have made this project possible, particularly Aaron Williamson for permission to use his title for the series. We are also grateful to the Arts Council of England for funding this initial selection, and to CRD RESEARCH at the Royal College of Art, who have provided technical support, tools and production space.

Giles Lane & Catherine Williams
August 2000

Publisher: Proboscis
Publication Date: 19th September 2001
Series Editors: Catherine Williams & Giles Lane
Design: Paul Farrington & Nima Falatoori
PERFORMANCE NOTATIONS supported by an Arts Council of England Live Arts publishing Award.

Contributors:
Rob Gawthrop, Marcelyn Gow, Johnny de Philo (Sue Golding), Anne Tallentire & Monica Ross, Yve Lomax & Vit Hopley, Marina Grzinic, Aaron Williamson, Declan Sheehan, Kevin Henderson and Katherine Meynell.

Non-proprietary or free approaches to creating and distributing digital tools and content have come increasingly into the public eye. The Free Software and Open Source movements – centred around operating systems, programming languages, and other utilities – have inspired (and been inspired by) a diverse group of initiatives. Apparent in all these movements is a tendency to reinforce the breadth and richness of the public domain in cyberspace. They create new kinds of collective goods, while at the same time challenging traditional copyright regimes, and questioning more individualistic modes of authorship.

To consider these issues the Collaborative Arts Unit of the Arts Council of England and the Academia Europaea, in partnership with the new Crucible agency at the Computer Laboratory, Cambridge and the Cambridge University Law Faculty’s Intellectual Property Unit, held a Conference at Queen’s College, Cambridge, in April 2001. The conference, CODE – Collaboration and Ownership in the Digital Economy – brought together leading theorists and practitioners in the media, software, law, technology and the arts to ask: How do non-proprietary principles contribute to creativity and collective action? What problems may be encountered in the legal domain? Will the current efforts of established IP rights holders to extend copyright enforcement eventually be reconciled with this emerging world of free-flowing, network-based collaboration? What lessons may be gained from alternative concepts of ownership? How can these movements interface with regular commercial practice?

The Arts Council of England’s Collaborative Arts Unit has commissioned a series of new texts from leading, UK-based researchers and writers, which contribute different perspectives and views to the issues raised by the CODE Conference, providing both a background resource and a location for the continuation of these debates. These books are published in the Diffusion eBook format, and are available both from this site, and from Metamute.

Tony White
February 2002

Publisher: The Arts Council of England
Publication Date: April 4th 2001
Series Editor: Tony White
Production: Giles Lane
Design: Paul Farrington & Nima Falatoori

Contributors:
Michael Atavar, Joe Banks, Steve Beard, Stewart Home and Matt Locke.

Proboscis has created an online application which enables people to create their own DIFFUSION eBooks without needing graphic design skills or access to professional DTP software. The service is currently in ‘beta’ testing by invitation only. However, if you would like to participate please write to us describing what you would like to use it for.

OUR VISION
DIFFUSION offers exciting possibilties for sharing of knowledge and information, especially in developing countries where lack of physical infrastructure means shipping bulky objects (like books) is difficult and expensive, but where internet communications are beginning to proliferate and low cost paper publications are still easier for most people to access and read than computer screens. For instance, DIFFUSION could be used to provide low-cost, easily updateable manuals for intermediate technologies; for promoting health awareness; for creating teching and learning resources or as a publishing platform for citizen journalism. DIFFUSION provides an alternative to traditional print and online publishing – bridging analogue and digital media. The eBooks can be shared electronically (as PDF files), by photocopy or as hand-made paper books – samizdat for the digital age.

WHAT COULD I USE THE GENERATOR FOR?
The DIFFUSION format is extremely flexible and can be used in many ways, such as for:

• publishing essays, short stories or poems
• creating simple, easy to distribute manuals and instructions
• distributing lecture notes to students
• creating lesson plans and learning diaries for students
• creating a portable family picture album
• creating a visual record of a journey
• makinga personal diary or journal
• creating a mini-portfolio for artists
• notebooks & diaries for fieldwork (e.g. for anthropology or ethnography)
• local newsletters or pamphlets
• an iterative tool for brainstorming & innovation workshops

Please note that at present the Generator is only available for testing by invitation

Development Team:
Giles Lane, Phil Ayres & Karen Martin

Download A4 | US Letter PDF 920Kb

About : Drawing observations from a pilot arts and science research project (Choreography and Cognition 2004/05) this essay explores connections between choreographic processes and the study of movement and the brain/ mind. It describes some of the productive relationships that emerged from the intersection between the different perspectives, vocabularies and understandings shared during this project, and how these can inform creative thinking in a range of practices.

Published June 2005

Scott deLahunta works from his base in Amsterdam as a researcher, writer, consultant and organiser on a wide range of international projects bringing performing arts into conjunction with other disciplines and practices. He is an Associate Research Fellow at Dartington College of Arts, Research Fellow with the Art Theory and Research and Art Practice and Development Research Group, Amsterdam School for the Arts, and Affiliated Researcher with Crucible (Cambridge University Network for Interdisciplinary Research). He lectures on the Amsterdam Master in Choreography and serves on the editorial boards of Performance Research, Dance Theatre Journal and the International Journal of Performance and Digital Media.

Download A4 only PDF 252Kb

About : an overview of the Urban Tapestries project by Proboscis, created for the Archilab Biennial in 2004.

Published October 2004

Giles Lane is founder and Co-Director of Proboscis.

Nick West bio to come

Download A4 only PDF 336Kb

About : documentation of the outcomes from a Social Tapestries Creative Lab and Bodystorming Experience held at the London School of Economics in September 2004.

Published October 2004

Giles Lane is Founder and Co-Director of Proboscis

Sarah Thelwall bio to come.