Instructions for Humans Funding Application

This is a slightly redacted version of the Grant For The Arts application I submitted to Arts Council England in mid March 2016. I expect to hear if I’m successful by the end of April.

I have omitted sections on collaborators and partners as they’re not mine to share. I have also removed the finance and budget sections. The amount I’m requesting is below £15,000.

I’m sharing this as part of the documentation of the project and because it will hopefully be useful to others thinking of applying for ACE funding. If you would like to see the whole application get in touch and I’ll definitely consider it.

Things to bear in mind:

• The word limits for these sections are insanely low. Cramming details of a 9 month activity into 1500 characters (not words, characters!) means losing a lot of nuance and flavour. I will be re-writing them for the main project page soon.
• Funding applications do not lend themselves to modesty. If you’re not a raging egomaniac bigging yourself up like this feels weird. But I need to say I’m the most awesomest, so I do.
• ACE are looking to make investments, so there’s a lot here that is nothing to do with the artwork. It’s about outcomes - my career development, the people I’ll impact. Sometimes it feels like the art is secondary, but that’s fine.
• If you’re really curious about why I wrote things the way I did, have a look at the How To Apply booklet which details all the notes I had to hit.

Enjoy!

Pete Ashton
March 2017

Project information

Please give a concise description of the activity you are asking us to support.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR HUMANS is a major new digital artwork to premier at by BOM (Birmingham Open Media) building to an exhibition, symposium and online resources exploring artistic potentials of machine learning systems and developing my artistic practice after a strong 2016.

The work asks what it means for a computer to “see”, how machine perception affects society, and how interrogating mechanical systems can cause us to question our senses.

Co-curated with artificial intelligence software, the project sees artist collaborators, participants, gallery staff and audiences respond to computer instructions based on images and data from sensors in the city, daily Internet trends and news feeds.

Artistic Quality

Please provide a brief summary of your (or your organisation’s) recent relevant artistic work, experience and achievements:

My practice sees cameras as data-capture sensors processed by computer systems, interrogating how processing images-as-data affects perceptions of society.

I create solo and participatory works involving machine and human gesture, exploring logical computer systems and fuzzy human behaviour.

I received a GftA in 2013 to launch my career and practice. Culminating in a series of group walks, this explored how perceptions of a city can be affected and augmented by creative technology.

During 2014-16 I was a BOM Fellow developing a research-led practice on the social, economic and political systems that inform creative technology and online spaces.

In 2016 I received a scholarship to attend an Experimental Capture summer school in Colorado with Golan Levin, professor at Carnegie Mellon. This covered new artistic methods of capturing the world and led to my running a workshop for BOM’s ACE-funded programme in January.

During 2016 I was part of the Goodbye Wittgenstein exchange with artist collective qujOchÖ involving a residency and group exhibition in Linz, Austria. Working on an international stage was a transformative exercise with valuable mentoring on presenting my work.

Throughout 2016 I have taken time away from work to develop new skills and methods of working through a self-directed learning programme.

Alongside my practice I co-run Birmingham Camera Obscura with Jenny Duffin, a GftA recipient in 2015 to commission four works by non-photographic artists.

I run Photo School, teaching and running photography events in Birmingham where I encourage artistic thinking throughout.

I have an “open source” practice, documented so that others can learn from it. All my work encourages others to try it themselves.

What is your proposed artistic activity, and what do you want to achieve by doing it?

The exhibition has 3 parts:

THE BLACK BOX is a computer generating instructions for the project based on images, text and data from sensors in the city and online sources. It represents opaque systems, such as Google, beyond user control.

PORTRAIT OF THE CITY is an evolving installation, featuring data visualisations, representations of computer vision and 3D-printed sculptures, all generated from The Black Box’s instructions.

A gallery guide and instructions for staff to alter gallery layout are generated daily.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR HUMANS is a series of events:

• Performances in the gallery directed by The Black Box.
• Black Box directed city tours.
• Automated social media accounts that request and process human submissions.
• A book, Instructions for Humans, based on the exhibition, to inspire creative practice.

Three WORKSHOPS and a SYMPOSIUM accompany the exhibition, inspiring activity in the region and developing a community of support.

Machine learning systems, aka algorithms or artificial intelligence, are complex programs that inform our interactions with computers. They use vast quantities of data to suggest a likely outcome and are employed in “smart” city management. Artistic use can produce challenging and innovative work illuminating forces in society.

Audiences will start to learn:

• what it means for a computer to “see”
• how society is influenced by how machines see
• the creative media potential of AI systems.

Through this activity participants and audiences will see their city through a machine’s eyes; to think about opaque computer systems and mass data processing by governments and corporations, opening up conversations about issues in digital culture and politics, through innovative use of creative media.

Why is this activity important for your artistic development?

This activity comes at a critical juncture in my artistic practice and is the culmination of three years of career development. Funding will enable me to build on a successful 2016 and raise my international profile.

My work at BOM, Colorado and Linz opened new doors and brought me an international network of curators and practitioners in the digital arts working on the social impact of new technology. Producing this work will establish me in this significant circuit leading to new opportunities to collaborate, exhibit and present my work internationally. A trip to Ars Electronica in September will start this process.

The work is designed to build on my strengths, pushing my practice into new areas, specifically through working with performance, gesture and digital fabrication, producing work of a high calibre for maximum impact on participants and audiences.

I will develop a solid and sustainable platform for future work, enabling me to explore emerging trends in data art and produce new work to a higher quality.

The show will be available for touring to other cities with different collaborators on new and emerging issues, producing a series of unique exhibitions reflecting the ever-changing climate and politics of data collection. As an accomplished speaker I will be submitting talks about the work to conferences and festivals in 2018. Both will further raise my profile and source new opportunities.

Locally I will develop a community of interest to support my work and build ties with the machine learning sector through collaborations and conversations with academia and industry. This is essential to my development in a sector when many of my peers are in different cities and countries.

Public engagement

Who will engage with this activity?

BOM will lead a comprehensive engagement programme for BAME and excluded young people and children with special educational needs. This will include workshops with students from Baskerville SEN School and James Brindley Hospital Schools.

The work deals with universal issues and is aimed at every resident of the city. Signage and guides will be accessible and inclusive.

I will specifically engage with the following:

• Artists and others interested in creative media applications machine learning and data processing will benefit from workshops and documentation.
• Civic and social activists concerned about surveillance and data profiling will engage with my methods of explaining complex concepts.
• The international community of data artists, informed through my contacts.
• Academics and students in the machine learning field, through Visiting Fellowship at Aston University.

Issues around civic data have become big news in recent years as data companies, such as Google, extend their reach. Ideas about Smart Cities and The Cloud have been shown to be naive as the post-Snowden era brought issues of privacy and security to mainstream attention. With Brexit / Trump upsets blamed on online “fake news” and filter bubbles, there’s an appetite to know what’s going on.

I have followed machine learning and data for many years and have a good understanding of the issues. Through my teaching and public speaking I can communicate complex ideas in simple terms. BOM will demand high quality work.

The work involves aspects of computer science with huge implications for society which is often ignored or misunderstood. Making audiences aware of how online activities and urban data networks operate will have a lasting impact on how they think about their city.

Please describe how you will reach your target audience or participants, in the short or long term, and give details of your proposed marketing activities where appropriate:

Instructions for Humans anchors and lends its title to a high-profile public engagement programme at BOM in association with Microsoft Research, alongside international artists Kyle McDonald and Nye Thompson.

BOM will implement and manage a bespoke marketing campaign through its Audience Development Plan. This includes:

• Social media across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, cross-promotion with local, national and international organisations and cultural partners.

• Monthly e-newsletter and mailshots.

• SEO’ed website with regular tailored blogging and event information.

• Bespoke A5 flyers distributed across region; exhibition texts and printed guides.

• PR with national, local and international press and personal invitations to key local, national and specialist press.

BOM will reach BAME and excluded young people and SEN children through schools partnerships and a young people programme.

I will use my personal networks to reach the following groups for engagement in the gallery or online:

• Participants in my Photo School activities who do not normally engage with the arts (circa 1000 emails)

• International community of artists and creative practitioners working with digital technology.

• Digital arts departments at educational institutions including Goldsmiths, NYU, Carnegie Mellon, Columbia.

• Online digital arts publications.

• Presenting at CreativeAI in London.

• West Midlands artist groups with whom I have developed relationships in the last decade.

• Local and international activists identified as working in this area.

• Academics and students at Aston University through a Visiting Fellowship.

All work will be fully documented online including articles and documents suitable for peer sharing.

Planning to date

Please briefly identify the main stages of any planning and preparation activity completed to date.

This work has evolved over my 2014-16 Fellowship at Birmingham Open Media and will be the culmination of three years work on cameras as data-first capture devices. Alongside my practice I have:

• Attended Golan Levin’s Experimental Capture workshop in Colorado USA for which I received a scholarship.
• Connected with and developed relationships with practitioners in the field of machine learning and digital art.
• Custom-built a computer system to run the necessary software and taught myself how to use it.
• Developed curatorial and exhibition skills through a residency in Linz, Austria.
• Attended national and international conferences and festivals relevant to this work.
• Built a support network in Birmingham and online to underpin development of the work.

To exhibit at BOM I developed a comprehensive and professional proposal which forms the basis of this application. [See attachment]

In 2016 I received a small inheritance which I have used to fund a period of personal development in the areas necessary to this project.

I have received two Grant for the Arts awards, one to start my personal art practice and one for Birmingham Camera Obscura (run with Jenny Duffin) which I successfully managed. This application builds on the work achieved in those activities and can be considered a natural next step.

Activity Timeline

Evaluation

Please briefly tell us how you plan to monitor the progress of your activity and to evaluate your achievements throughout the activity:

Evaluation will be conducted to ACE standards and results will inform touring and development of the work through 2018-19.

The exhibition will be evaluated by Birmingham Open Media as part of its funding requirements. I will integrate this into my evaluation.

Technical development of the work will be automatically tracked on coding website github.com and documented on my personal blog showing iterations, successes and failures.

Personal development will be monitored by developing a list of goals at the start of the activity and returning to them at regular points with mentor Karen Newman to ensure I am on track and spot unexpected developments. These include:

• Producing work suitable for touring.
• Raising artistic profile internationally.
• Establishing local community of interest and practice.
• Establishing platform and opportunities for future work.

Performance audiences, workshop participants and symposium attendees will be asked to complete surveys covering the following:

• What was learned?
• How might it affect your practice?
• What worked / didn’t work for you?
• Thoughts about machine learning and the arts.
• Other areas that will emerge during the preparation of these events.

Surveys will mostly be done in text although I may record interviews as part of the documentation if appropriate.

Online statistics will be recorded as appropriate. Press, blog and social media reactions will be saved. Any email correspondence relevant to the activity will be used for evaluation with the permission of the sender. A survey tailored to the online experience will be made.