[esocialaction] [Fwd: Gearbox launch tour meeting at Enter_ Festival]

[Chris Bailey]

This may be of interest to some on the list. A lot of MediaShed's work 
does have a strong social action angle.

Chris

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	Gearbox launch tour meeting at Enter_ Festival
Date: 	Tue, 10 Apr 2007 20:24:12 +0100
From: 	Damien Robinson <damien at isomorphic.demon.co.uk>
To: 	<Undisclosed-Recipient:;>



The MediaShed would like to invite you to the launch and tour 
development meeting for Gearbox, the free media video toolkit resource 
and website, a one-stop space for low/no-budget film makers. Gearbox 
will be launched at 2pm on April 27th in Cambridge, as part of the 
ENTER_UNKNOWN TERRITORIES International Festival & Conference for New 
Technology Art.
Gearbox is the outcome of twelve-months development work between the 
MediaShed, the first free-media space in the East of England, and 
Eyebeam Art and Technology Centre in New York, to create a resource for 
low-budget filmmaking. Building on the core aims of free-media, Gearbox 
shows how to utilise free and open-source software, provides ideas for 
hardware that is as cheap and as adaptable as possible, and demonstrates 
creative ways of making films using unusual combinations of found 
resources (like CCTVs), the re-use of discarded and junk equipment, and 
low-budget methods of reproducing professional filmmaking techniques – 
replacing money with imagination. Gearbox can help put more filmmaking 
tools into the hands of individuals who would not usually have the 
opportunity to use them due to financial cost and social barriers.
We are contacting you to see if your organisation would be interested in 
participating in our planned launch tour in the East of England, 
collaborating with the Enter_ creative network mission to develop 
resources and tools in the region. The tour is currently scheduled to 
start in late 2007, continuing through until Spring 2008. Gearbox is 
primarily a resource for young people interested in media and film, and 
for any organisation working with them; it can be utilised for ideas, 
primary research, or as a workshop resource.
Although the toolkit can also be used by anyone, the tour will be aimed 
at arts and community sector organisations wishing to explore an 
exciting and cheap way for people to get involved with filmmaking as a 
creative medium. Participant organisations in the tour will work with 
the Mediashed to develop an event covering the Gearbox website and 
related free media concepts, in addition to showcasing the films, and 
demonstrating the technology. We hope participant organisations will 
develop their own projects and films, becoming involved with the 
development of the Gearbox website by up-loading their own content and 
developing new films and techniques. This will allow us disseminate 
activity much more widely and put the tools in the hands of more 
individuals who will have wholly different approaches to the tools and 
ways of using them, creating a sharable, reusable and expandable 
resource. Manchester's Futuresonic festival recently commissioned a 
Gearbox project; a parkour (free-running) performance in a shopping 
centre filmed entirely using only the in-house CCTV system which will be 
shown during the festival itself in May.
Gearbox will be launched at the Temporary MediaShed in Dome 1, Parkers 
Piece, Cambridge on Friday, April 27th at 2pm. Following the launch 
there will be a networking meeting for all those interested in 
participating in the tour until 4pm. This meeting will be an opportunity 
for you to find out more about our ideas for the tour, as well as help 
us shape the development of the tour itself.
Please contact me by 20th April if you or another member of your 
organisation would like to attend the launch and tour discussion meeting.
Yours sincerely,
Damien Robinson
(on behalf of the MediaShed)
damien at isomorphic.demon.co.uk <mailto:damien at isomorphic.demon.co.uk>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Further information*

    * Parker's Piece is located in the centre of Cambridge, bordered by
      Park Terrace, Regent Terrace, Parkside and Gonville Place.
      http://www.streetmap.co.uk/streetmap.dll?G2M?X=545538&Y=258115&A=Y&Z=1
      <http://www.streetmap.co.uk/streetmap.dll?G2M?X=545538&Y=258115&A=Y&Z=1>

    * The Temporary MediaShed is part of the Enter_net festival and as
      with all the Festival's exhibitions and public events, it is
      free.You do not require a conference pass to come to the launch.
      You can find out more about the festival, the conference, and the
      Enter_ network at www.enternet.org.uk <http://www.enternet.org.uk/>
    * The Gearbox website will not be live until the launch but you can
      see more about the Video Sniffin' project, which utilised (and
      inspired) Gearbox toolkit techniques at
      www.mediashed.org/?q=videosniffin
      <http://www.mediashed.org/?q=videosniffin>
    * The MediaShed is an community interest company set up by Mongrel,
      an internationally recognised artists group specialising in
      digital media. Mongrel is supported through Arts Council England's
      Grants for the Arts.