The Mobile Media Gallery is a curatorial crucible hosting exhibitions and initiatives that emphasize ephemeral, itinerant, transitory events that are often location-specific and time-based.
The Mobile Media Gallery is run by members of the Mobile Media Lab at Concordia University’s Department of Communication Studies. The MMG is a curatorial initiative that experiments with wireless, mobile devices. We are developing the idea of tactical curating, sponsoring or mounting interventions that are small-scale, portable, collaborative, and event-focused. We are exploring the artistic, curatorial, aesthetic and ethical dimensions of mobile “galleries” in the tradition of Duchamp’s gallery in a suitcase or the work of other artists/collectives such as Robert Filliou and Fluxus.
Our campaigns use Bluetooth and other networking technologies to create collective multimedia interventions in mobile communication. Our mandate is to encourage a theoretically-informed engagement with artistic and technological practice. We bring together researchers and practitioners in an effort to create knowledge that is useful to the community at large. In this way, we hope to enrich the activities of the university as a dynamic and innovative institution.
The MMG’s Bluetooth server can be used to both upload and download information. Visitors need only make their bluetooth enabled devices (cellphones, PDAs, computers…) “discoverable” when in range of the server. The Bluetooth server’s optimal range is about 30 feet, although it can reach up to 75 feet.
Like all wireless communication, the number of people connecting to the system will affect the rate of data flow to each individual device. The more people connected, the slower the connection. But at the same time, the more people connect, the more they contribute to a collective and potentially immersive media experience.
The MMG is sponsored by an FQRSC Equipe grant (“Art et nouveaux médias: vers une redéfinition hybride du lieu”), an FQRSC Établissement de nouveaux professeurs-chercheurs-créateurs grant (“Radio activités : une généalogie du Theremin, les ondes Martenot et l’orgue Hammond”) and The Department of Communication Studies, Concordia, University.
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Creative Directors: Kim Sawchuk, Owen Chapman, Rae Staseson
Research Assistants: Samuel Thulin, Antonia Hernandez, Mel Hogan, Marie-Hélène Lemaire, Katja Philipp
Contact
Please get in touch with us if you have feedback on any of our campaigns or activities, or if you are interested in future collaborative projects.
Email: contact[at]mobilemediagallery.org (please replace [at] with the usual character)
Address:
Our (non-mobile) office is located in the …
Mobile Media Lab -Department of Communication Studies
7141 Sherbrooke Street West
Montreal, Quebec Canada H4B 1R6
Please address your correspondence to Owen Chapman, Rae Staseson or Kim Sawchuk.