Keywords: mobility, Portability, opportunity, technology, reinvention, interaction.
The trick is to be where the people are. Weegee (Arthur H. Fellig)
Created in 2005, the MediaPackBoard (MPB) is both a performance assist apparatus and a series of performances based upon encounters, conversations, and video playback. It consists of a customized backpack-style rack on which a battery-operated monitor screen plays back signal from live or prerecorded sources. The inception of the MPB came from our previous portable/mobile experiences: the TRUNK© Gallery (1996-2001) in which we showed works in the trunk of our car and the Location Location Location: We Are Getting Closer (2002), a roaming wireless webcam expedition created with Emmedia in Calgary and the Atlantic Cultural Space Conference in Moncton (1).
The MPB is a hybrid beast: media arts gallery, performance space, and a conversation all at the same time. It is portable; you can wear it on your back and carry from one place to another. It is also mobile, capable of recording and playback on the move. The fine line between portability and mobility crosses over many times here. Mobility comes from the old French, Mobilité (2) and alludes to ideas of movement and speed, change and inconsistency, as well as fickleness! It is ironic that fickleness, a form of unreliability, would be part of any technology. We like this, especially today, where the idea of mobility has become so closely understood as a technological phenomenon. One of the strangest things about it is that corporations have appropriated the idea of mobility for themselves. They have become our mobility. What is there for us other than Bell, Telus, or Rogers? Can we be mobile and not subscribe to any plan? As a society, we tend to think not. The origins of mobility relate to plain old necessity. Historically, in the realm of the nomad, the concept of movement, migration, and keeping moving, was a way to find something better, to improve one’s status. It was a basic strategy for human survival. When the tribe moved on to the spring or winter location, everyone came along, and communication within the group remained insular. In the case of MPB, mobility is provided by legwork as opposed to reliance on a communications provider. But, being a good hybrid animal, it is capable of using mobile computing as a tool for dialogue and interaction.
We are all aware that in today’s world, the meaning of mobility has everything to do with staying connected while moving. And with modern technology, we are now able to search everywhere in the world to find individuals that we connect with, our searched and chosen tribe that we carry with us. Click and we are together, we experience, and we bond. What we don’t expect or experience as often in contemporary society, are social encounters in the physical world, the one-on-one in the public realm – unless a marketing campaign is involved. We can seek it out; make a trip to the market to exchange goods, services, and conversation on a physical level. But practically speaking, the day-to-day social scene is more often online, through a screen. In all of this, there remains an endless opportunity for artists to expand consumer use of these technologies, to make them their own, and to carry out their vision. In doing so, they follow the precedent established as each new technology has shown its face in the marketplace. (See Portability-Mobility insert) The concept of reinventing social interaction might require a willingness to step outside of the comfort zone. Slipping into the role of the entrepreneur is one way to retake control over the public space, to intervene.
Corporate branding of mobility has positioned itself to appear as the only motor capable of moving us forward. Like the tethers of condominium living, as consumers, we become locked into never-ending monthly fees. Are we mobile or are we harnessed to the strings of a service provider? While modern mobility is on some levels, more about goods and less about people, it defines and dominates the world we live in. Future portable galleries might address these concerns.
For the present, what is the relevance of a project like the MediaPackBoard in a world of walkie-talkies, handheld transceivers, and mobile theatres? Does it have a place? Is it pertinent? These are questions that we continue to ask ourselves and with each project, we find answers that point to its relevance. To exchange words during a live encounter on the streets presents an element of risk, and ultimately, the chance to meet the other. It offers an opportunity to have a public conversation on a personal level without plans for broadcast and sponsorship-driven content. For us, it is worth the effort. Let’s keep moving.
Daniel H. Dugas and Valerie LeBlanc Moncton, NB September 17, 2012
1 – Weegee once explained: “Here’s my formula – dealing as I do with human beings, and I find them wonderful: I leave them alone and let them be themselves – holding hands with love-light in their eyes – sleeping – or merely walking down the street. The trick is to be where the people are. One doesn’t need a scenario or shooting script, all one needs to do is to be on the spot, alert and human. One never knows what will happen…. I am often asked what kind of Candid Camera I use – there really is no such thing – it’s the photographer who must be candid”
1 – Trunk © Gallery: https://val.basicbruegel.ca/portfolio-item/trunk-1996/
Trunk75 : http://www.basicbruegel.com/trunk75_event/main.htm
Location Location Location: We Are Getting Closer: https://locationlocationlocationwearegettingcloser.wordpress.com/
2 – Online Etymology Dictionary, Retrieved September 17, 2012, http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=mobility
