Month: June 2024

citizens making something happen

| vornster

It takes courage to step up and organise something to make life in your neighbourhood or city better. Even when it’s part of your job it takes courage: What if no-one turns up? What if it rains? What if people don’t like what we’re doing? What if doing this makes us look stupid? What if we fail? These (and many other) questions plague us (and every artist) every time we/they do something. When you have raised funding to make your event happen, the pressure is even more intense – this is public money and there’s a big responsibility to make sure it is spent well.

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A Solid Blue Portal

| Charlie

Jaz Morrison reflects on her Nest Residency in association with MAIA

I haven’t been on many residencies, so I wasn’t sure what to expect during my time at the Nest. I remember asking if Talking Birds had any expectations of me, despite reading that this was about using the time as I felt best. The commute was surprisingly long – around 90 minutes from door to door – but it allowed me time to read books I’d put off, and the walk from the station familiarised me with the city centre. I even ran into an old colleague in my final week.

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In search of magical capabilites

| vornster

This spring Talking Birds has been working with colleagues at the University of Warwick on the ‘AI in the Street‘ project, which is researching communities’ perspectives on, and feelings about, the AI-enabling infrastructure that lines our streets. The project aims to add citizen-voices into discussions about future infrastructure installation and invisible data gathering projects, whilst questioning how open and responsible the current processes are. The project has collaborative teams working in London, Cambridge, Edinburgh and Coventry, with the site of the Coventry Observatory being the Holyhead Road – which marks the border between Lower Coundon and Spon End.

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