Christian Nold is een kunstenaar, spreker en een cultureel activist uit Londen die momenteel hard internationaal aan de weg timmert!

We zijn dan ook blij dat hij een van de keynote sprekers is op Whatnight #4 als vervanger van Sandra Rottenberg.

Nold is vooral bekend van zijn project Biomapping: een emotionele stressmeter voor grote steden.

Momenteel doet hij onderzoek in de Bijlmer en in 2010 lanceert hij de BijlmerEuro, een alternatieve geld-economie voor de Bijlmer.

Nold studeerde Fine Art aan de Universiteit van Kingston en Interaction Design aan de Royal College of Art. In 2001 schreef hij het boek 'Mobile Vulgus'. Verder krijgt zijn project Biomapping grote internationale erkenning met 14 tentoonstellingen en meer dan 25 workshops en conferenties wereldwijd.

Voor zijn Biomapping project (2004-) stuurde hij een aantal bewoners van Londen, Rotterdam en München erop uit met een GPS-logger en een draagbare 'galvanic skin response measurer'. De laatste is beter bekend als een soort leugendetector: ze onderzoekt het stressniveau van de gebruiker door te meten hoe zweterig de vinger is. Nold koppelde de twee aan elkaar en kreeg zo een kaart waarop te zien was in welke delen van de afgelegde route er meer of minder stress was beleefd. Met als resultaat een schitterende kaart die zowel functioneel is, voor stadsontwikkelaars bijvoorbeeld, als artistiek sprekend.

english:

Christian Nold is an artist, designer and educator working to develop new participatory models for communal representation. In 2001 he wrote the well received book ‘Mobile Vulgus’, which examined the history of the political crowd and which set the tone for his research into participatory mapping. Since graduating from the Royal College of Art in 2004, Christian has led a number of large scale participatory projects and worked with a team on diverse academic research projects. In particular his ‘Bio Mapping’ project has received large amounts of international publicity and been staged in 16 different countries and over 1500 people have taken part in workshops and exhibitions. These participatory projects have a strong pedagogical basis and grew out of Christian’s formal university teaching. He is currently teaching at the Bartlett, University College London.

over de Bijlmer Euro:

The Bijlmer Euro is an experimental currency that will be launched in January 2010 in Holland. It only circulates in the Bijlmer area of South East Amsterdam which has been described at the Dutch Bronx. The currency is based on a recycled RFID sticker which is placed on top of standard Euro notes. It uses the ubiquity, mobility and trust in the Euro as a vehicle for its own local currency which can offer local added value. The projects has many complex implications for development of local service as well as social and cultural benefits for the area.

The Bijlmer Euro started in January 2009 as a research project by Christian Nold, commissioned by Imagine IC to examines how trust networks function in the Bijlmer area in South East Amsterdam. As a result of the 1 month research residency a viable real currency emerged that is now being rolled out with the support of Imagine IC the Waag society and the Dutch Money Museum.

The initial aim for early 2010 is to setup a working local currency with 10 local shops which will support local development. The RFID ccompoent will all local people to see how their money moves in the local area and might encourage people to change their behaviour towards local production.

The long term aim is to setup the Bijlmer Euro in conjuntion with a partner currency in Surinam which will also share the local currency and be able to provide money transfer services like a bank.

meer over biomapping:

A strong example of how GoogleEarth can be used to demonstrate and visualise an artist’s project. GPS tags are pinned on to the emotion maps to describe people’s reactions to certain places and spaces.

6 month artist commission hosted by Independent Photography as part of ‘Peninsula’, a series of artist commissions on the Greenwich Peninsula.

Artist Christian Nold worked with 50 local residents from the Greenwich Peninsula to explore the area afresh and build an emotion map of the area that explores people’s relationship with their local environment.

The project was set up as a series of participatory workshops that invited people to borrow a Bio Mapping device and go for a walk. The device measures the wearer’s Galvanic Skin Response (GSR), which is an indicator of emotional arousal in conjunction with their geographical location. The resulting maps encourage personal reflection on the complex relationship between us, our environment and our fellow citizens. By sharing this information we can construct maps that visualise where we as a community feel stressed and excited.

The printed ‘Greenwich Emotion Map’ is available directly from Independent Photography as well as the ICA, Tate Modern bookshops and some other good artist’s book sellers.

“Will seeing other people’s experiences, allow us to engage differently with our environment?”

Please vsit the Greenwich Emotion Map website

Bio Mapping is revolutionary methodology and tool for visualising people's reactions to the external world.

Over the last five years, over 2000 people have taken part in community mapping projects in over 25 cities across the globe. In structured workshops, participants re-explore their local area with the use of a unique device invented by Christian Nold which records the wearer's Galvanic Skin Response (GSR), which is a simple indicator of emotional arousal in conjunction with their geographical location. On their return, a map is created which visualises points of high and low arousal.

The unique methodology of this project involves working with groups of people to interpret and analyse the data and adding annotating onto these individual emotion tracks. Through this process communal Emotion Maps of lots of people's emotion data are constructed which are packed full of personal observations and highlight the issues that people feel strongly about.

Over the last years Christian Nold has used this unique methodology and tool in many diverse contexts from art, community development, science research, architectural planning and large scale political consultations. Please get in touch if you would like to set a similar project in your area.

When we become aware of our own and each others unique body reactions to the environment we can create a better world!

Read Emotional Cartography edited by Christian Nold - free PDF download

Some examples:

Stockport Emotion Map

East Paris Emotion Map

San Francisco Emotion Map

Greenwich Emotion Map

Brentford Biopsy

over techniek:
Unfortunately, in recent years there have been so many people, companies and institutions who have tried to copy or imitate the Bio Mapping device and use it for banal, exploitative or anti-social purposes.

For this reason I would like to make it clear that the Bio Mapping device and Emotion Mapping concept are Copyrighted and Trademarked!

For other work and more information please look at:

www.softhook.com

christian at softhook dot com

Technology is not the neutral, rational instrument that it is portrayed as; instead it appears to be a heady and unstable mix of authoritarian control and anarchic mischief.

My take is to slip into the gap between these two poles and use it as my medium by combining the freedom offered by the art world with the agency obtainable through design and technology. My aim is to build new tools that reek of possibility and also possible misuse.

The first part of my work is the in-depth research of technological tools in order to unravel their social and political layers. This has so far included the book Mobile Vulgus which scrutinized the mind state and weaponry of the riot policeman. In particular it focused on the futuristic crowd control technologies being developed for use in our streets.

The second part of my practice involves the building of socially constructive, bottom-up tools. These take the form of practical tools such as the distributed video editing system - 'Community Edit' or more conceptual tools such as 'FuelAir' that allow people to experience an explosion from inside the weapon itself.

I am interested in working with individuals, groups, companies and institutions that are trying to develop new hybrid forms of technology that are socially and economically sustainable.

Further personal projects and information http://www.softhook.com

check die link:

www.christiannold.com