playful cubes for storytelling, brainstorming ideas or playing games in three dimensions
Diffusion engaging with the community, online and out in the world.
an ongoing programme enabling residents at Proboscis studio to create eBooks and StoryCubes for their own projects.
eBooks & StoryCubes created for learning and educational purposes
Browse the collection of Diffusion Shareables: eBooks & StoryCubes
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About : This double-sided StoryCube has been designed for the Dodolab intervention at the 5th World Environmental Education Congress in Montréal, May 10-14 2009. Dodolab is a collaborative and creative intervention exploring different approaches to the concept of sustainability, resilience and adaptability. It is organised by Andrew Hunter of Render @ University of Waterloo and Shawn van Sluys of Musagetes Foundation. Giles Lane of Proboscis will be participating to engage delegates in creating a landscape of ideas using the cubes, as well as social mapping activities using a Buckminster Fuller Dymaxion Map.
Published May 2009
Giles Lane is an artist, researcher and teacher. He founded and is co-director of Proboscis, a non-profit creative studio based in London where, since 1994, he has led projects such as Urban Tapestries; Snout; Mapping Perception; Experiencing Democracy; Everyday Archaeology; and Private Reveries, Public Spaces. Giles is a Visiting Tutor on the MA Design Critical Practice at Goldsmiths College (University of London) and is a Research Associate of the Media and Communications Department at London School of Economics. Giles was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2008 for his contribution to community development through creative practice.
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H2O eBook A4 | US Letter PDF 258Kb
H2O StoryCubes A4 only PDF 3.83Mb
About : H2O looks at the materiality of water to speculate on its cultural and political significance at the turn of the 21 century. We can begin reflecting on who we are and what we want to become by understanding the place that water holds in social life and cultural change.
Published March 2009 in the Diffusion Transformations series
Alejandra Canales is a Chilean-born performance artist and independent filmmaker, concerned with the social and political dimensions of artistic practice. Based in Sydney since 1998, she has undertaken studies in film and video production and has worked in several roles for independent films. In 2005 she completed a Master Honours at AFTRS where she directed two documentaries A Silence Full of Things and Switch on the Night. Currently she is a recipient of a scholarship to complete a Doctorate of Creative Arts at University of Wester Sydney where she works on the project Rendering Water: a documentary fiction on the cultural future of water. She also received an Ian Potter Cultural Trust grant to progress on her new multi-platform documentary film Solid_Liquid_Gas_H20.
Anne Ransquin is a Belgian photographer and historian working across photography, design, film and community media. She has participated in as well as conducted several photographic workshops such us Suburbancrossings digital photography workshop with young refugees from Sudan and Chad in collaboration with Information and Cultural Exchange and the University of Western Sydney. She has also contributed to several independent film projects in Chile, Australia and Belgium in her capacity as a still photographer as well as an assistant director. Currently she is developing a photodocumentary project in Arles and will assist Spanish artists at the Biennal of Contemporary Arts in La Havana/Cuba (March 2009). She is a member of the Belgian photographers collective, Collectif Caravane.
Juan Francisco Salazar is a Chilean born, Sydney-based media anthropologist and video maker. He lectures in communication and media studies at the University of Western Sydney where he is also a research member in the Centre for Cultural Research. He has published extensively in areas of indigenous and community media, climate change and social change. He has produced several documentaries and experimental films which have been exhibited internationally.
why are we who we are? what do we want to become?
Transformations is the latest series of Diffusion commissions curated by Proboscis. Proboscis is commissioning a diverse range of writers, artists, performers, thinkers and makers to respond to two questions from different perspectives, why are we who we are? and, what do we want to become?
As we get into the swing of the 21st Century our notions of identity, personal and societal, are subject to new arrays of emerging pressures and responsibilities. Our aspirations for change and growth are being re-thought as we grapple with the growing awareness of environmental changes which may already be beyond our control. How have we reached this point? Where do we go from here?
Transformations seeks to address these fluid notions of identity and aspiration by commissioning works that subtly reflect on individual identities, urban identity and pharmaceutical, biological and technological interventions. Over the next few years we will be inviting selected contributors to add their voices into this mix – through essays and artists books (eBooks) as well as in three dimensions (StoryCubes).
Add Your Voice
For the first time we are experimenting with a new approach to selecting works for this series – publishing as a conversation. Readers are invited to submit their own proposals for the series (through the comments section of this site) – we will provide accounts for the Diffusion Generator (soon to be re-launched as Bookleteer) for readers to become authors and create their own eBooks or StoryCubes, the best of which we will publish as contributions to the series. We are not asking for quick responses, but for measured and considered contributions to the series – putting an eBook or a set of StoryCubes together is significant creative act. Get in touch if you are inspired by the works we have selected and published so far and have a proposal for a work of your own.
The Contributions
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About : These StoryCubes were created by Proboscis as part of a pack of ‘Impressions’ for the Perception Peterborough project. The Impressions were created through an Anarchaeology process which Proboscis conducted with over 20 local people in the city during July and August 2008 – uncovering stories, experiences and histories of the city as well as hopes and aspirations for its future. The process sought to raise the voices of people who would not usually be heard as part of a major urban regeneration plan, and form part of a Culture of Listening. The StoryCubes themselves focused on ‘underused assets’ – those things which through conversations, observations, encounters and journeys appeared abundant within the city, yet not used or utilised to their full potential:
Perception Peterborough is a dynamic and creative visioning project which brought together key local representatives with creative thinkers to develop innovative approaches to the challenges and opportunities facing Peterborough. Proboscis was commissioned to develop and lead a series of creative workshops alongside consultants Haring Woods Associates.
Published September 2008
Proboscis is a non-profit, artist-led creative studio based in London, UK. The team working on Perception Peterborough were: Alice Angus, Niharika Hariharan, Matt Huynh, Giles Lane, Karen Martin, Carmen Vela Maldonado and Orlagh Woods.
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About : These StoryCubes form a key part of the Briefing Pack prepared by Proboscis and Haring Woods Associates for the participants in the Perception Peterborough workshops, held in September 2008. The illustrations and folding cube format were designed by Matt Huynh and are a playful way of engaging with the themes of the project, as well as a creative interpretation of existing policy documents. The black and white illustrations respond to the overarching theme of ‘Environment’, whilst the red panels refer to ‘growth and development of the built environment’; the blue panels refer to ‘green infrastructure and environmental technologies’; and the yellow panels refer to ’social cohesion within a climate of migration’.
Perception Peterborough is a dynamic and creative visioning project which brought together key local representatives with creative thinkers to develop innovative approaches to the challenges and opportunities facing Peterborough. Proboscis was commissioned to develop and lead a series of creative workshops alongside consultants Haring Woods Associates.
Published September 2008
Proboscis is a non-profit, artist-led creative studio based in London, UK. The team working on Perception Peterborough were: Alice Angus, Niharika Hariharan, Matt Huynh, Giles Lane, Karen Martin, Carmen Vela Maldonado and Orlagh Woods.
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About : Blocks of Change takes a look at the brick industry in Peterborough and how it changed the landscape and social make-up of the city. It is one of three eBooks created by Proboscis as part of a pack of ‘Impressions’ of the city, its people and environment for the Perception Peterborough project. Blocks of Change was created and designed by Karen Martin.
Perception Peterborough is a dynamic and creative visioning project which brought together key local representatives with creative thinkers to develop innovative approaches to the challenges and opportunities facing Peterborough. Proboscis was commissioned to develop and lead a series of creative workshops alongside consultants Haring Woods Associates.
Published September 2008
Proboscis is a non-profit, artist-led creative studio based in London, UK. The team working on Perception Peterborough were: Alice Angus, Niharika Hariharan, Matt Huynh, Giles Lane, Karen Martin, Carmen Vela Maldonado and Orlagh Woods.
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About : Lines of Mobility is a brief exploration of the role that the railways played in shaping the social, environmental and spatial landscape of Peterborough. It is one of three eBooks created by Proboscis as part of a pack of ‘Impressions’ of the city, its people and environment for the Perception Peterborough project. Lines of Mobility was created and designed by Karen Martin.
Perception Peterborough is a dynamic and creative visioning project which brought together key local representatives with creative thinkers to develop innovative approaches to the challenges and opportunities facing Peterborough. Proboscis was commissioned to develop and lead a series of creative workshops alongside consultants Haring Woods Associates.
Published September 2008
Proboscis is a non-profit, artist-led creative studio based in London, UK. The team working on Perception Peterborough were: Alice Angus, Niharika Hariharan, Matt Huynh, Giles Lane, Karen Martin, Carmen Vela Maldonado and Orlagh Woods.
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About : Bus Adventures traces a series of journeys taken by bus through Peterborough and its villages chatting to locals, taking images and recording sounds. It is one of three eBooks created by Proboscis as part of a pack of ‘Impressions’ of the city, its people and environment for the Perception Peterborough project. Bus Adventures was designed and created by Orlagh Woods with Karen Martin.
Perception Peterborough is a dynamic and creative visioning project which brought together key local representatives with creative thinkers to develop innovative approaches to the challenges and opportunities facing Peterborough. Proboscis was commissioned to develop and lead a series of creative workshops alongside consultants Haring Woods Associates.
Published September 2008
Proboscis is a non-profit, artist-led creative studio based in London, UK. The team working on Perception Peterborough were: Alice Angus, Niharika Hariharan, Matt Huynh, Giles Lane, Karen Martin, Carmen Vela Maldonado and Orlagh Woods.
Download A4 | US Letter PDF 1.9Mb
About : At the Water’s Edge
Finding that so much of her work on human relationships to land and urban space leads to issues around rivers and water Alice Angus is beginning a series of water based investigations exploring different perspectives of what it means to care for the environment and how it can affect the way in which water environments are managed and cared for. The dialogues are being recorded and shared as Diffusion eBooks and StoryCubes. Through encounters, journeys and conversations with people who experience rivers in different ways the series aims to bring the discussion of environmental issues to a human dimension and consider how human creativity, spirituality and inventiveness in everyday life; from city workers to gardeners, urban planners to bus drivers, amateur botanists to academics is both witness to environmental change and fundamental to creating solutions to environmental issues.
A Conversation with Joyce Majiski
Joyce Majiski is an artist, naturalist and river and wilderness guide whose work focuses on the natural world. This eBook includes excerpts from a conversation with Joyce about two rivers; the Tatshenshini and the Firth. Both wilderness rivers in North Western Canada.
Published August 2008
Alice Angus, co-director of Proboscis, is an artist inspired by rethinking concepts and perceptions of landscape and human relationships to the land. Over the last six years she has been creating a body of art work exploring concepts proximity and remoteness, technology and presence, against the lived experience and local knowledge of a place. In 2003, Alice was the only non-Canadian to participate in the first Artist in the Park residency in Ivvavik National Park in the Northern Yukon, organised by Parks Canada.
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Manchester Beacon Workshop eBook A4 | US Letter PDF 1.8Mb
Manchester Beacon Workshop StoryCubes A4 only PDF 1.9Mb
b.TWEEN StoryCubes A4 only PDF 3.8Mb
About : The eBook is a document of the ideas, issues and challenges for an “an online service that maps connections between people, places, knowledge and creative activity in Manchester” – an new tool for public engagement and knowledge transfer for Manchester to be commissioned by the Manchester Beacon Project and Just b. Productions. It records the activities of workshop facilitated by Proboscis in Manchester in June 2008; 16 StoryCubes created during the workshop are also available, as well as 24 of the StoryCubes created by delegates and the public at b.TWEEN08 as part of the ‘landscape of ideas’ for the commission brief.
The workshop and StoryCubes installation was facilitated and documented by Proboscis for Just b. Productions by Giles Lane and Karen Martin.
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About : 24 StoryCubes making up a ‘landscape of ideas’ created by participants at geeKyoto2008.
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eNotebook 1 by Graham A4 only PDF 145 Kb
eNotebook 2 by Michael Evans A4 only PDF 176 Kb
eNotebook 3 by Agnieska Gryglewicz A4 only PDF 163 Kb
eNotebook 4 by Laura A4 only PDF 136 Kb
eNotebook 5 by Lucy K Wills A4 only PDF 180 Kb
eNotebook 6 by Alex Haw A4 only PDF 197 Kb
About : Six eNotebooks completed by participants at geeKyoto2008 (Saturday May 17th 2008, Conway Hall London).
About : These eBooks were produced by students at the University of Waterloo for the Anarchaeology: Collecting Curating and Communicating Culture course, run jointly by Proboscis and Render in Winter/Spring 2008.
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Published March-April 2008
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About : An eBook for the Lattice Forum (07/03/2008), a day event exploring issues of cities and sustainability arising from Lattice: Collaborative Anarchaeologies of the City. It looked at the workshop’s achievements, discussed the ways culturally diverse communities engage with their environment and considered issues of creative cities and sustainability. Proboscis spent three weeks in Western Sydney working with ICE (Information and Cultural Exchange) hosting a collaborative workshop and exchange labs with Western Sydney artists/ cultural producers and Thai community architect Kasama Yamtree.
Published March 2008
Lattice::Sydney participants include: David Capra, Ali Kadhim, Sanez Fatouhi and Amin Palagni, Ben Hoh, Tiffany Lee-Shoy, Fatima Mawas, Ben Nitiva, Matt Huynh, Tak Tran and Tina Tran of Popperbox, Denis Asif Sado, Trey Thomas, Maria Tran, Todd Williams and Kasama Yamtree.