"The European Urban Media Network for Connecting Cities is a project initiated by Public Art Lab in co-operation with Ars Electronica GmbH Linz, BIS Body Process Arts Association Istanbul, FACT Liverpool, iMAL Brussels, m-cult Helsinki, Medialab Prado Madrid, Media Architecture Institute Wien, Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb, Riga 2014, Videospread Marseille, in association with University of Aarhus, Marseille-Provence 2013 and MUTEK Montréal and funded by the European Union.
Our aim is to create a networked infrastructure of urban media facades to circulate artistic and socio-cultural content throughout the whole of Europe. Media facades and digital big screens provide new opportunities for communication in the public space. Through modern Information and communication technologies (ICT), they are membranes between the digital and the urban spaces. All over the world we can evidence an increase of urban screens, media facades and media technologies like mobile phones: 5,9 of 7 billion people have meanwhile access to the internet. What is the potential of urban media besides the commercial usage for advertisement? How can they catalyse communication and awareness of our environments and contribute to a lively society? How can we create an exchange between local scenes and neighbourhoods thus giving a voice to the public audience? Which impact will they have for our global communities?"
"OpenUrban is the first open source user-generated web map and forum focusing on current and proposed urban development. It is a web platform for civic collaboration, a venue for debate, and an outlet and archive for information on urban development. We embrace crowd sourcing technology as a means to inform and empower. By combining written media with spatial information OpenUrban creates a powerful tool for people to understand how their cities are changing and supports their active participation in that change."
(OpenUrban, 2012)
"Même si la publicité commence à être contestée (les anti-pubs, les propos sur la suppression de la pub sur les chaînes publiques…) , elle reste un excellent média de communication, surtout si elle est bien intégrée à notre environnement urbain ! ... En voici la preuve en images avec 70 publicités à la fois drôles et créatives !"
(Conseils Marketing, 6 April 2008)
"Psychogeography is hot. Guy Debord, founding member of Situationist International and the man who coined the term in 1955, defined the phenomenon as 'the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals'. In fact, psychogeography is the art of strolling, or just about anything that gets pedestrians off their predictable paths and leads them to a new awareness of the urban landscape. Recently we've seen a remarkable psychogeographic revival driven by several artistic urban projects and smartphone applications."
(Jeroen Beekmans, 4 January 2012, The Pop-Up City)
"Imagine that you have just got home late from a long day of work only to be confronted by an endless list of chores. You drag yourself and an old bag of dirty clothes to the laundromat around the corner. Suddenly some young film-maker is putting a camera in your face and asking you about your laundry, your life and your ever-fading childhood dreams. At first you want to be left alone-get out of my face! But after a while you relax. It feels good to talk and it feels good to listen. On your way home, you keep thinking about the stories you told and the ones you heard. Your mind just keeps on spinning...
The scenario of the short film ‘Laundrette’ transforms an anonymous public space into a dynamic one where stories are swapped and strangers are given faces. The film also acts as a remarkable metaphor for what Narratives for Europe wants to become: an open space where significant stories can be voiced, echoed and debated. Selected from the media collection of ECF’s Youth and Media programme, ‘Laundrette’ was awarded ‘Best Documentary’ at the BFI Futures Film Festival 2011 in London. You can watch this film and other shorts on ECF’s VIMEOchannel.
The BFI recruited this video and is one of the 6 partners of the Doc Next Network. This network functions as the core of the Youth & Media Programme of the European Cultural Foundation (ECF). Doc Next is a unique movement of independent cultural and media organisations working with young people and media in the UK, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, Turkey and Scandinavia."
(European Cultural Foundation)
"Launderette": Director - Bertie Telezynski, Producer - Johnny Orme, Producer - Mark Davies, Cinematographer - Alex Nevill, Cinematographer - Rachel Lewis, Editor - Louis Rossi, Sound - Liam Cook