New Theatre Royals Associate Artist Jon Adams is to create maps of the UK based on user-generated content as part of a major digital public arts project Democracy Street supported by a £41,000 award through Arts Council England’s National Lottery funded Grants for the arts programme.
The project also has funding from The Speaker’s Art Fund and from the Houses of Parliament as part of Parliament’s 2015 Historic Anniversaries programme Parliament in the Making. It is also supported by Mozilla and Big Local.
Democracy Street centres on the creation of new and unique artwork for an exhibition celebrating the long history of UK Parliamentary democracy. The street themed artworks will be exhibited during Parliament Week 2015.
Jon, who is a Research Fellow and Artist in Residence at the University of Portsmouth, will collaborate with commercial digital expert Joseph Cavalla to develop an interactive platform to create the maps. Project participants will upload content that is based on street names such as Gladstone Villas and Churchill Way, names synonymous with Parliament and democracy.
Democracy Street celebrates the UK’s democratic heritage. Coinciding with the 750th anniversary of the Montfort Parliament, the 800th anniversary of the sealing of Magna Carta and the 2015 General Election, the project sets out to use a digital channel to develop participants’ creative skills and view their local communities in a wider context, inspiring a greater interest in today’s democratic processes.
Jon Adams works across platforms using sound, drawn image, poetry, photography and ‘art in public’. His work references his Aspergers and Dyslexia, weaving fragments of autobiography, science and hidden metaphor.
http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/news/arts-council-news/digital-public-art-project-create-unique-maps-uk-p/