Matrix East Research Lab

Matrix East Annual Report and Business Plan 2008-2011

1.0 General Introduction

MERL was launched in June 2007, after over two years of building and setting up. The lab is using cutting edge technology to synchronise, programme and deliver multi-track video presentations, among other capabilities, and this innovative feature was not easy to design and set up. It is the first time that this is done and also the first time that such a large group of video signals were required to be in frame-accurate synchronism. This capability is especially crucial if we are to offer video artists the chance of programming and presenting in the lab, as well as offering this as a pilot for the larger systems which will be required during the Games in 2012.

1.1 The MERL Launch

The Launch was a great technical challenge, both for us and SONY BPRL. By the time we were preparing the Launch, it was clear that the synchronisation issues cannot be properly resolved with the original technology, or with the replacement technologies which SONY BPRL has installed since the first installation was complete. In 2006, as we realised that the demands we are facing the system with are such that either software or hardware cannot resolve, SONY BPRL has started what was a R&D project of upgrading the facility. The following changes were implemented as part of the partnership- by its very nature this description is deeply technical:

• Sony has contributed 105K towards the purchase of the facility
• Sony has then contributed a further 45K to make it possible to purchase more lights and light supports, as well as more 32” flat screen displays
• Sony has worked with us on the shortcomings of the Sony DVStation system; while this system worked well in its normal modes, for our demanding uses it was not capable of presenting in HDV high-resolution video. Sony has rewritten and upgraded the system, which is now called Sony HDXchange, and is well capable of our expectations, and has installed this free of charge. I estimate this was worth some 30K. This meant installing another 10 Terabyte huge server, while leaving us with the old server for other uses, as well as handing over the new software. The system was developed in the UK, at the Basingstoke SONY BPRL HQ, and was based on our experience and work.
• Sony has then replaced 12 Mac-Minis (of 36) in order to improve synchronisation. This indeed brought the synchronisation error down from 9 seconds to less than a quarter of one second, and even down to 2-3 frames. While this was a huge improvement, it fell short of what we were hoping to achieve, bearing in mind the exacting uses on the 2012 Games which are projected, for which frame-accurate usage is a must. The upgrading, for which we did not pay, cost in the region of 22K.
• The launch was carried out successfully, after continued failures over the days beforehand, as the system was playing up on synchronisation, partly due to the lack of cooling and higher temperatures in the server room. This is referred to below.

The programme

Annual Lecture: The evening started with the first MERL Annual Lecture, delivered by Prof. Laura Mulvey, the film maker and film theorist from Birkbeck College, on the following topic:

Film and the Digital: Seeing the old through the new

Some 300 people have attended the lecture, which has attracted much interest, and has set a high benchmark for us to follow in the next few years. That Laura Mulvey, who has affected new and experimental film and video so much in her work, both theoretical and practical, was able to launch the centre, was a real boost to our activities.

The film presentations: The launch included specially-curated work from the following artists (in order of appearing in the programme, all UEL staff or PGR students:

• Mandy Faure
• Tae Kim
• Haim Bresheeth
• David Chapman
• John Holder

The programme lasted just over an hour, with each presentation being separated from the next by 30 seconds. Each presentation used a special setup of 16 screens: Two very large projected images, and 14 large LCD images, all arranged on the periphery of the studio, with the 135 strong audience sitting on cushions on the floor, and choosing their own positions during the programme.

Despite the numerous technical problems bedevilling the launch over the few days of preparations, the programme of presentations went exceedingly well, and was received with great enthusiasm from all present, with many artists present asking how they can be invited to present and work in the centre. This was indeed followed up afterwards, and the first Visiting Artist to present in the early 2008 will be Said Adrus. The big delegation from SONY BPRL has been crucial to the success of our preparations, and have themselves been immensely impressed about the system, which, until then, they have seen operating only partially.

2.0 The Technical Challenges

Synchronisation

As explained above, during the period preceding launch we were not yet able to deliver frame accuracy – the best we achieved was around +/- 2 frames from a synch point, on 12 of the channels, while the other 24 were not synchronised, and feely drifting. This is why we limited ourselves to a small number of screens for the event.. This was just good enough for the occasion, and the production were designed to hide this flaw. In terms of future work, this is of course not acceptable. The difficulty is due to the particular technology of either PC or Mac computers, relative to the way they measure and deliver time-accurate data. While this does not affect normal computer operations, it has hampered the system in its very specialised task of providing frame-accurate playback of multiple video channels.

We have followed this through with Sony engineers in a series of meetings and workshops since June, both here and at Basingstoke, in order to further design the system with emerging technology, with good results. The technology used in the design of the Sony PS3 is far in advance of the needs for which it was designed, and it includes the new Blue-Ray HDVD as integral. The chip is also capable of synching channel to frame-accurate standard, for the first time with Sony or any other such equipment. Sony have designed a changeover from the Mac-Mini driven channels to PS3 driven channels, and will help us to design and the new system free of charge, as long as we find the funds for the PS3 units and some related equipment, as this fits very well into their own research and development profile. The software driving the system: Sony HDXchange, Sony Ziris and their multiple iterations are now being rewritten as part of this development, based on the MERL experience, and we will of course get those free and continuously updated as part of the special relationship with Sony BPRL UK. The replacement of the MacMinis by the PS3s, and the upgrading of the network feeding the signals, all of which we propose to do ourselves, so as to save on installation costs, which would have been more than £15,000, would make the system fit-for-purpose and fully functional, once the new software upgrades are installed in January. The whole process will last almost two months, and we plan to use the break and inter-Semester period for this crucial task.

Overheating

An additional, but unrelated problem has also occurred, further complicating our work. The space in MER, both on the 1st and 2nd floors, is ventilated (somewhat) but not cooled in any way. This meant that in the summer months temperature in the enclosed spaces of the CAR (Central Apparatus Room) the Studio and the Upstairs Lab has reached 29 or even 30 degrees Centigrade, and that internal temperatures within individual items of the system were much higher, as a result. We have experienced continued crashes caused by this high temperature, something we have foreseen in the original design of the Lab, when Air Conditioning was planned, but abandoned on the grounds of cost. It is now clear that in order to protect the system from crashes, loss of data, and resetting and losing synchronism, the spaces must be properly air-conditioned. This is also true for the main studio space, where it became quite unbearable for the large group of people during the launch. As resolving those problems is calling for different solutions, we are of the opinion that we must now resolve at least the Lab and CAR as a matter of urgency, as the integrity of the system comes first, before the convenience of audiences. The matter of air-conditioning the studio itself must be discussed with UEL management separately, as a matter of Health and Safety.

Once the technical problems discussed above have been resolved, the Lab will be ready for its normal operation. The use of the Lab for exhibition of media presentation will start in the new year, with four planned events:

• Said Adrus – a show by a Visiting Video artist (two weeks)
• Michael Pinsky Retrospective – AVA artist to show arrange of his recent work (two weeks)
• MERL Showcase – 11 MERL artists showing their work in group show (two weeks)
• B Zone – a special 3 artist show from Berlin, organised by Angela Melitopoulous, about the corridor of refugee coming into Europe from the East

More shows are planned for the second half of the year, as well as a general call for work from artists in the UK and abroad, to go out in December 2007, once our technical solutions are certain and under way.

3.0 Further developments planned

In the medium term, Phase 2 of the Lab’s development has been planned from the early stages as leading us into the Mass Content Digitisation arena, and giving us the capabilities of digitising museum, archive and library contents. This will require a major investment in the near future, of the kind which was required when the Lab was first built. For this to take place, both industry, Government and Research Council grants will be sought, as described below. In outline, the areas required for this stage are:

• Some additional space added to the Lab, by both extending sideways, and building a mezzanine floor in the upstairs room EB2.40
• Adding Mass Content Storage system such as Sony PetaSite, capable of storing the huge contents which such projects require
• Adding a dedicated Server for the MERL projects and websites
• Cooling the studio space properly by a custom-made air-conditioning system

The applications for applied research projects which will help to finance the next stage are now at an advanced stage of development, and will be delivered to the following bodies:

1. AHRC: A large research project involving seven UEL academics, and three from Westminster and SOAS, centring around the historical process of globalisation of Bollywood. This will also be done with colleagues from India, in University of Media Arts (UMA, New Delhi), and Mudra Institute of Communication Arts (MICA, Ahmedabad). We are likely to ask for two PhD students as part of this project. Application for 500K
2. EU FP7: An application to compare the media treatment of Muslim communities in two countries, UK and Spain. This will be done with Colleagues from the Madrid Compultense University. Application for 450K
3. National Heritage Fund: An application for the total digitisation of the Refugee Research Archive materials. This is an important benchmark digitisation project, which may help us to achieve other, larger projects. Application for 680K.

There are smaller projects which are now being processed by various members of the centre, and will be discussed at the next Board meeting, in the new year.

4.0 New Members

The centre has been joined by three eminent academics: Eyal Sivan, the internationally-renowned documentary film maker from Paris, Dr. Valentina Vitali, the film historian from Belfast who specialises in Indian cinema, and Dr. Steven Eastwood, the independent experimental filmmaker who has left the Buffalo branch of NYU to join us. All have started in October and are already involved with the centre plans and work.

5.0 Research grants awarded

Prof. haim Bresheeth, together with Prof. Bengt Henoch from Jonkoping University in Sweden, have been awarded a grant by STINT, the Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education, with 400000 SEK annually for support to an exchange program between Jönköping University and University of East London for the development of joint knowledge and experience in multi-ethnic entrepreneurship and relations. Some of our PhD students and some staff will be involved in this exchange.

6.0 Income generation plans for MERL

The MERL facilities are expensive to build and maintain. We were very lucky with developments to date, but the need to produce income is paramount. The plans involve a number of initiatives:

1. Hiring out facilities to artists and producers: We are now working on a rate-card which will advertise and cost our services, and will offer commercial rates for producers, and community rates for local video artists. Services will also be offered to schools and colleges, once the synchronisation problems have been resolved. The installation of digital biometric locks, and the upgrading of doors and security arrangements, will allow evening, and later, overnight operation, crucial for any such users. The rate card will distinguish between two types of user: commercial/Independent and community user, with the rates ranged accordingly.
2. Arts Council (and financial backers) Artist in Residence programme. This was drafted and accepted by the Board, and will be offered to ACGB and London Video Arts for consideration and support. (Appendix B)
3. Two KTP programmes have been drafted with SONY BPRL, ready to be worked through with Knowledge Dock support. Those deal with specific technical innovative devices and programmes which will be crucial for the 2012 Games.
4. The studio itself can be hired out for video productions, though we lack some basic provisions; those can be hired in if required, so this is still a good prospect. This will be included on the Rate Card.

7.0 PhD Practice-based

The School has now gone ahead with a new programme of Practice Based PhD, available for viewing on the Website, under Research:

http://www.uel.ac.uk/ssmcs/research/practicephd.htm

This is run by Haim Bresheeth and Lizbeth Goodman, and involves both MERL and SmartLab/MagicLab, as well as IPAD. We hope that it will bring us much new talent and excellent students.

8.0 Work by members of the centre published the last 18 months

An Appendix to this report lists some of the recent publications and media work done by members of the Centre. (Appendix A)

Haim Bresheeth

Edited Volumes:

Bresheeth, H and Hammami, H (Eds) The Conflict and Contemporary Visual Culture in Palestine & Israel, special double-issue, No. 80/81, Vol. 20, issue 3-4, October 2006, of Third Text on Palestinian and Israeli Art, Literature, Architecture and Cinema. ISSN: 0952-8822

Book chapters:

Bresheeth, H “Segell Ikhtifa/Chronicle of Disappearance: Elia Suleiman, Palestine 1996” in Gönül Dönmez-Colin (ed) North African and Middle Eastern Cinema, Wallflower Press, London, 2007. pp. 169-180. ISBN: 978-1-905674-10-7.

Bresheeth, H “The Continuity of Trauma and Struggle: Recent Cinematic Representations of the  Nakba” in Lila Abu-Lughod and Ahmad Sa’di (eds) Nakba: Palestine, 1948, and the Claims of Memory , Columbia University Press, New York, 2007. pp. 161--187. ISBN: 0-231-50970-7.

Bresheeth, H. “Elasticity of Narrative Time: Time Travel in Science Fiction Cinema” Peroni, Emilia (ed) Time: Psychoanalytical and Other Disciplines, Van Leer Institute/Kibutz Meuhad, Jerusalem (Hebrew, 2004). pp. 146-163. ISBN: 965-02-0261-7.

Refereed Journal Articles

Bresheeth, H. “The Continuity of Trauma and Struggle: Recent Cinematic Representations of the  Nakba” in Yael Munk and Eyal Sivan (eds) On Destruction, Trauma & Cinema, a special edition Volume 2 of South Cinema Notebooks, Haifa, 2007 (Hebrew). pp. 25-45. ISBN: 978-965-7171-58-5.

Bresheeth, H. “Elasticity of Narrative Time: Time Travel in Science Fiction Cinema” in Journal of European Psychoanalysis, No. 23, 2007. pp. 59-84. ISSN: 1125-8217

Bresheeth, H “The Nakba Projected: Recent Palestinian Cinema”, in Bresheeth, H and Hammami, H (Eds) The Conflict and Contemporary Visual Culture in Palestine & Israel, special double-issue, No. 80/81, Vol. 20, issue 3-4, October 2006, of Third Text, ISSN: 0952-8822

Bresheeth, H “Projecting Trauma: War Photography and the Public Sphere” Third Text, # 78, Volume 20, Issue 1, January 2006, pp. 57-72.

Periodical articles:

A large number of articles in Hebrew (Ha’aretz daily Broadsheet, Tel Aviv) and English (Al Ahram Weekly, Cairo). For examples of articles in English, please check into the Al Ahram site. Some examples:

In 2006

Sad Reflections on Jewish Morality (English)

Sad Reflections on Jewish Morality (Japanese)

Sørgmodige refleksioner over jødisk moral (Danish)

In 2007

Whose boycott is it anyway (English)

Entonces ¿Qué boicot prefieres? (Spanish)

Israel es una sociedad patológica porque no puede mirarse al espejo (Spanish)

Maniacs With Nuclear Razors

Tale omits tiger’s bloody passage from India (THES, June 29, 2007)

Why is debate ‘illegal’? (THES, October 12, 2007)

Films:

A Civilised Clash, 18 min. A multi-screen Video Art production, encompassing 16 screens, premiered during the Matrix East Research Lab Launch, in June 2007.

David Chapman

Chapman, D “Hark”, in Screenworks, Issue 1, Spring 2008 (Forthcoming)

Chapman, D “Steel Cello / Bow Chime” in Practice as Research in Performance, Palgrave, 2008 (Forthcoming)

Chapman, D “Now Hear This” Rising East Online, Issue No. 3 January 2006

Media Outputs

Chapman, D “Audio Notebook” for Connecting Art and Anthropology Website, Curated by Dr. Amanda Ravetz for Manchester Institute for Research and Innovation in Art and Design, August 2007

Chapman, D Gunpowder Park / Robert Wilson Project, Sound Piece

for Catalogue CD, Landscape and Arts Network Service, June 2006

Exhibitions

Chapman, D “Hark 2” Matrix East Launch (Group Show), University of East London, July 2007

Yumi Hara Cawkwell

Nota Bene for amplified shakuhachi and amplified clavichord, comminssioned by Kiku Day, supported by Sir Richard Stapley Educational Trust and the PRS Foundation/Bliss Trust, Premiered by Kiku Day and Keith Howard at Brunei Gallery, SOAS, 8 March 2007.

Luminous for prepared piano and amplified clavichord, commissioned by Kate Ryder and Jane Chapman, supported by the Gen Foundation. Premiered at bmic The Cutting Edge at The Warehouse, 26th October 2006.

Hibernal (1. Climbing up the Frozen Waterfall 2. Light of the Distant Sun 3. Frost) for organ, premiered by Michael Bonaventure on 13th August 2006 at All Saints Blackheath.

Fortean Songs for mixed choir, commissioned by Chantage supported by the PRS Foundation/spnm/MakingMusic, premiered on 24th June 2006 at St James Piccadilly.

That is So a Good Look (1. Very Prada, Darling 2. The Shape du Jour 3. Statement Heels 4. De Rigueur, Chérie 5. Best LBD Moments) for 2 pianos, commissioned by Kate Ryder and David Appleton supported by the PRS Foundation, premiered on 30 March 2006 at The Warehouse.

Lizbeth Goodman

SERIES EDITOR: Emergenc(i)s: Emerging trends in New Media Arts and Culture. MIT Press, (commission agreement signed in 2006): First series forthcoming Spring 2008/

Goodman, L. (2007). Performing in the Wishing Tense: SMARTlab’s Evolution on Stage, Online and in the Sand’. New Theatre Quarterly (Cambridge University Press. XXXI (4), 352-375.

Goodman, L. (2007). Performing Self Beyond the Body: Replay Culture Replayed’. The International Journal of Performance & Digital Media. 3.2-3.3 (1), 1-22.

‘The Butterfly Effect: Dancing with Real and Virtual Expressive Characters’, by Lizbeth Goodman with Ken Perlin, Brian Duffy, Katharine A. Brehm, Clilly Castiglia and Joel Kollin. in Ruth Aylett and Cañamero, L. eds. Animating Expressive Characters for Social Interactions. John Benjamins Press, 2008, ISBN 1 902956 25 6, pp. 182-207.

‘Digital Inclusion in the Home’, Femmes Méditerranéennes et Leurs Droits (Fedala Press, Morocco) with Caritas Press (France), ed. Fatima Sadiqi

Goodman, L with Brian Duffy, Jeremi Sudol, Marc Price et al. ‘TRUST: robotics and haptics for extreme interaction and universal design’, forthcoming in Leonardo (MIT Press, special issue- Mutamorphosis), November 2007.

Goodman, L with Dr Mick Donegan, Dominic Palmer-Brown, Helen Kennedy, Li Zhang, ‘InterFACES: Affective Interactive Virtual Learning Environments for People with Cognitive & Physical Disabilities’, forthcoming in Leonardo (MIT Press, special issue- Mutamorphosis), November 2007.

Most recent awards:

• Microsoft named Senior Researcher Award (as above: 2006-8).
• Senior Mentor/Brain Trust member: Games Academy, 2006-8.
• Senior Mentor, XMedia International (Bejing, Mumbai, Sydney, Vancouver, Singapore): 2007 -.

+ Nominated for the Times Higher Award for service to people with disabilities, 2007 (received a commendation in November 2007).

Most Recent Honours

• Futurelab UK Working Group on Designing for Social Justice, 2007-.
• CFI Canada expert panel international head (Innovation Fund of the Canadian Government).
• Wellcome Trust Sciart Panel Chair 2006 -7 (jury member since 2003).
• Evaluator for the European Commission Framework VI Programmes in E-content and Safer Internet Plus, 2004 -6 .

Most Recent Grants won:

• BBC R&D Award for MINDtouch: Games for Thought Project: £60,000 2006-7.
• Microsoft Community Affairs: fellowship and research package for the ClubTEC Creative Technology Innovation Project: 2006-7. £45,000.
• European Commission Cogain Project partnership funds, @20,000 per annum for SMARTlab team cooperation.
• European Commission Festivals Project Production Grant: £35,000 2006-7/
• British Council Distinguished Artist/Scientist visitor travel awards, 2006-7 (ongoing).
• Microsoft Virtual Earth Development agreement: industry on site in our lab, 2007 -.
• NESTA Legacy Management Award- £104,000, for 2006-9.
• Interfaces International Link Project to Dublin: £32,500 2006 -7.

Yosefa Loshitzky

Loshitzky Yosefa, guest editor of a special issue of Third Text Vol. 20, No. 6, (November 2006), on “Fortress Europe: Migration, Culture and Representation”. ISSN 0952-8822

Referred Journal Articles:

Loshitzky Yosefa, “Fortress Europe: Introduction,” Third Text, Vol. 20, No. 6, (November 2006), pp. 629-634. Special Issue on “Fortress Europe: Migration, Culture and Representation,” Guest Editor: Yosefa Loshitzky.

Loshitzky Yosefa, “Journeys of Hope to Fortress Europe,” Third Text, Vol. 20, No. 6, (November 2006), pp. 743-752. Special Issue on “Fortress Europe: Migration, Culture and Representation,” Guest Editor: Yosefa Loshitzky.

Loshitzky Yosefa, “Pathologising Memory: From the Holocaust to the Intifada,” Third Text Vol. 20, Nos. 3-4 (May/July 2006), pp. 327-335.

Sylvie Prasad

Powell H & Prasad S (2007) 'Lifeswap:celebrity expert as lifestyle advisor' in Heller D 'Makeover Television: Realities Remodelled' I.B. Tauris

Eyal Sivan

A website describing all his films:

http://www.momento-production.com/home.php3

Website of Faces of the Fallen(2006)

http://www.phares-balises.fr/en/fiche_films.php?film=500

Website of Citizens K (2007):

http://www.phares-balises.fr/en/fiche_films.php?film=569

Joanne M Thomas

Thomas, Jo "Girl" Electronic sound and fine ink drawings, public artwork, gallery instillation, Artist in Residence University of Hertfordshire 2007

Thomas, Jo "Gemini' Electronic sound and oil and arlicic paintings public artwork, gallery instillation, Artist in Residence University of Hertfordshire 2007

Thomas, Jo "The Asta project, Port of Call Sound Walk" public art work commissioned by London East Research Centre funded by National Heritage 2007

Thomas, Jo "Alpha” work for 5.1 Electronic Sound; invitation to Electronic Music Studio’s Sweden 2008 Thomas, Jo "Theta" work for Electronic Sound and Digital Film; Future Sonic Festival, Whitworth Gallery, Manchester 2008

Valentina Vitali

Books:

Vitali, V. and Willemen, P. Theorising National Cinema London: BFI, 2006.

Book chapters:

Vitali, V. “Not a Biography of the ‘Indian Cinema’: Historiography and the Question of National Cinema in India” in V. Vitali and P. Willemen (eds) Theorising National Cinema London: BFI, 2006.

Vitali, V. “Cultural Specificity and Universalism in the Work of Shirin Neshat” in P. Talasmaa (ed.) Slojan hemlighet / The Secret of the Veil Espoo: EMMA, 2006.

Vitali, V. “Pyaasa / Eternal Thirst” in C. Fujiwara (ed.) Little Black Book Movies: Over aCentury of the Greatest Films, Stars, Speeches and Events that Rocked the Movie World London: Cassell Illustrated, 2007.

Essays in refereed journals:

Vitali, V. “On the Frontal Subjects of the Hindi Melodrama: Notes for a Comparative Approach to Film” in boundary2, Volume 33, Number 2, Summer 2006.

Forthcoming Publications:

Vitali, V. Hindi Action Cinema 1920-2000: Industries, Narratives, Bodies Delhi: OUP, 2008.

Vitali, V. “History Matters” in M. Jain (ed.) Reflexions: Film, Literature, Culture New Delhi: McMillan India, 2008.

Vitali, V. “At the Crossroad of the Regional and the Global: The Hindi Action Cinema as National Cinema” in M. McLoone (ed.) Regionalism, University of Sussex Press, 2008.

Vitali, V. “Silent Action Heroines and the Emergence of Indian Cinema” in J. Gaines and P. Torres San Martin (eds) Women and the Silent Screen Durham: Duke University Press; Guadalajara: University of Guadalajara Press, 2008.

Vitali, V. “Narrative Economics of the Hindi Action Film” in K. Bhaumik (ed.) The Indian Cinema Book London: BFI, 2008.

Vitali, V. “Hou Hsiao-hsien Reviewed” in Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, Special Issue Asia’s Hou Hsiao Hsien: Cinema, History and Culture, edited by K.-H. Chen, W. Ti and P. Willemen Spring 2008.

Vitali, V. and Chan, F. “The Cosmetics of Hunger” in E. R.P. Vieira (ed.) City of God in Several Voices Volume 2 Nottingham: Critical Cultural and Communications Press, 2008.

Appendix B

MERL Artist in Residence Programme (draft for discussion)

General

It is proposed that we set up an MERL Artist in Residence Programme, in order to react to queries we already received, and many that are likely to follow after the launch. As the system is unique, it would be paramount to devise a system offering use which is transparent, equitable and based on merit. It would also be good to offer such facilities to local, national and international artists, as we have undertaken in our ‘manifesto’ guidelines.

Before such a move can be undertaken, we need to go through the following stages:

1. Sign the system as fully operational
2. Get a large number of our members trained on it (both academic and technical staff)
3. Get training materials produced (filming the Sony training would be a start, and more materials will need to be produced)
4. Build an attractive website to explain and advertise the activities and facilities of MERL
5. Write the description and parameters of the MERL Artist in Residence Programme, agree it at the Board meeting, and sent it on Web and other grapevines
6. Devise a procedure to deal with applicants, and the group which will look at, and decide upon applications

Scheme outline

The scheme suggested should be developed in two stages:

1. Stage 1: Unfinanced – artist is offered training and use of system, on timetable agreed with us, with technical support on a limited basis. We could offer:
1. Training – chargeable (rates to be decided upon); this will be done in small groups (three or four people)
2. 1 month and 3 months work on system – free to artists on scheme. Artist to get access to MERL Lab for the duration, to get access to studio for ONE week, as per booking availability, and to basic Technical Support.
3. 1 month or three month work on system – chargeable to other artists. Artist to get access to MERL Lab for the duration, to get access to studio for ONE week, as per booking availability, and to basic Technical Support.
4. Introduction sessions to local artists and arts associations – free
5. All work to follow an agreed contract between MERL and the artist or arts foundation/institution.
6. It is suggested that any point in time, we will have only ONE Artist in Residence.
2. Stage 2: Financed – artists is offered a bursary and time on system to produce work to be presented at MERL. This requires application for funding from a number of sources: ACGB, AHRC, EU, and some smaller funds. This could also be done in collaboration with Rich Mix, ICA, or Innova. A realistic timetable for this could be 12 months at least before such a system could be brought to bear. The exact arrangements for such a bursary are obviously to be worked out, once agreement is reached by the Board.
3. We also are well advised to reach an agreement with one of the central venues: ICA, Rich Mix or INNOVA, so that we share events. We should also collaborate with European venues, so that we not only share work across, but also stand a better chance of finance.

Principles of offering support for artists

We should agree first on a set of ‘desirables’ so that the drafting would be guided by such list. I offer here some (please ignore wording, and concentrate on the sentiment. We will reword after agreement – many superimpose on each other, so much rewording will be required):

1. Work proposed is experimental, cutting edge, and innovative. Work is clearly developing new approaches to visual digital art, making good use of the system in question.
2. Work proposed is clearly benefiting our region socially, artistically, theoretically.
3. Work proposed is supporting the vision and aims of MERL
4. Work proposed is supporting the vision and aims of UEL
5. Work proposed is supporting the UEL role in the Olympic Games of 2012
6. Work proposed is supporting urban regeneration in the Thames Gateway
7. Work proposed is supporting/furthering social integration in East London
8. Work Proposed is significantly contributing to our research and RAE profiles

Haim Bresheeth

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