Technological University Dublin ARROW@TU Dublin Doctoral Applied Arts 2012-6 The Construction of Locative Situations: the Production of Agency in Locative Media Art Practice Conor McGarrigle Technological University Dublin Follow this and additional works at: https://arrow.tudublin.ie/appadoc Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons Recommended Citation McGarrigle, C. (2012) The Construction of Locative Situations: the Production of Agency in Locative Media Art Practice. Doctoral Thesis. Dublin, Technological University Dublin. doi:10.21427/D7D88Q This Theses, Ph.D is brought to you for free and open access by the Applied Arts at ARROW@TU Dublin. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral by an authorized administrator of ARROW@TU Dublin. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License The Construction of Locative Situations: the production of agency in Locative Media art practice. Conor McGarrigle, BSc University College Dublin, MA National College of Art & Design Dublin. This Thesis is submitted to the Dublin Institute of Technology in Candidature for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate School of Creative Arts and Media & Digital Media Centre June 2012 Supervised by: Dr. James Carswell, Head of Spatial Information Technologies Research, Digital Media Centre DIT. Mr. Martin McCabe, Lecturer School of Media, DIT & Teaching Fellow, GradCAM. Dr. Brian O'Neill, Head School of Media, DIT. Abstract This thesis is a practice led enquiry into Locative Media (LM) which argues that this emergent art practice has played an influential role in the shaping of locative technologies in their progression from new to everyday technologies. The research traces LM to its origins at the Karosta workshops, reviews the stated objectives of early practitioners and the ambitions of early projects, establishing it as a coherent art movement located within established traditions of technological art and of situated art practice. Based on a prescient analysis of the potential for ubiquitous networked location-awareness, LM developed an ambitious program aimed at repositioning emergent locative technologies as tools which enhance and augment space rather than surveil and control. Drawing on Krzysztof Ziarek's treatment of avant-garde art and technology in "The Force of Art", theories of technology drawn from Science and Technology Studies (STS) and software studies, the thesis builds an argument for the agency of Locative Media. LM is positioned as an interface layer which in connecting the user to the underlying functionality of locative technologies offers alternative interpretations, introduces new usage modes, and ultimately shifts the understanding and meaning of the technology. Building on the Situationist concept of the constructed situation, with reference to an ongoing body of practice, an experimental practice-based framework for LM art is advanced which accounts for its agency and, it is proposed, preserves this agency in a rapidly developing field. The thesis demonstrates that the user centric practices developed by LM exert far reaching influence on the application of location-aware technologies, which sees them emerge into the everyday different to what they might have been. LM art projects are seen to have foreshadowed key categories of current location-aware applications and services. This, it is argued, is not co-incidental but is rather the result of an intentional desire, and accompanying actions, to shift the meaning of these technologies. As location-aware technologies become ubiquitous it is advanced that the forms they take and the ways in which they are employed are co-constructed by LM art practice. Acknowledgements This dissertation would not have been possible without the support of colleagues, friends and family. I would like to to thank friends and colleagues at The Graduate School of Creative Arts and Media, in particular John Buckley, Clodagh Emoe, Georgina Jackson, Glenn Loughran, Thomas McGraw Lewis and Tim Stott for their support, advice and input over the last four years as we collectively worked toward our Doctorates. Thanks to John Buckley whose passion and knowledge was a source of inspiration over the course of many conversations on art and technology and to Mick Wilson for his advice and encouragement. I would like to thank my supervisors Dr James Carswell, Martin McCabe and Dr Brian O'Neill who over the years graciously and skilfully guided me through this unknown territory and kept me focused on the goal of producing this dissertation. I would like to thank my children Darach and Lia for their forbearance. And to Emer for everything. I dedicate this thesis to the memory of my parents Patrick and Grace McGarrigle. Declaration I certify that this thesis which I now submit for examination for the award of PhD, is entirely my own work and has not been taken from the work of others, save and to the extent that such work has been cited and acknowledged within the text of my work. This thesis was prepared according to the regulations for postgraduate study by research of the Dublin Institute of Technology and has not been submitted in whole or in part for another award in any other third level institution. The work reported on in this thesis conforms to the principles and requirements of the DIT's guidelines for ethics in research. DIT has permission to keep, lend or copy this thesis in whole or in part, on condition that any such use of the material of the thesis be duly acknowledged. Signature __________________________________ Date _______________ Table of Contents Table of Illustrations..........................................................................................................1 Introduction.......................................................................................................................2 Chapter Summaries.......................................................................................................4 Chapter 1: What we talk about when we talk about Locative Media ...............................................10 1.0 Introduction ..........................................................................................................10 1.1 Locative Media.....................................................................................................12 1.2 GPS ......................................................................................................................13 GPS and Locative Media.......................................................................................18 1.3 Position vs Location..............................................................................................22 1.4 Taxonomic Considerations ...................................................................................25 The Headmap Manifesto........................................................................................26 Beyond Locative Media.........................................................................................27 Brief Taxonomy of Locative Media.......................................................................28 Locative Dystopia..................................................................................................30 1.5 A Taxonomic Approach ........................................................................................31 Invisible notes in real places .................................................................................32 Location and Being in the World ..........................................................................33 Remappings ...........................................................................................................34 Hybrid Space .........................................................................................................36 Performing the City ...............................................................................................37 Locative Situations ................................................................................................39 1.6 Summary...............................................................................................................39 Chapter 2 : Location and the Ubicomp City....................................................................41 2.0 Introduction...........................................................................................................41 2.1 The City as Interface.............................................................................................42 The (Automatic) Production of Space....................................................................44 Hybrid space...........................................................................................................46 Locative Media: finding the exploit ......................................................................48 2.2 Spatial Practices ...................................................................................................50 Augmenting Space.................................................................................................53 2.3 Location Based Services (LBS)............................................................................55 Privacy in the era of augmented space...................................................................59 2.4 The Spatial Practices of Locative Media..............................................................60