Closing Event and Artists Talk at CHRC, Goldsmiths, 4th October 2011

My current solo exhibition 'Redirection and Network Timeout' at the Constance Howard Research Centre, closes on the 6th October 2011.

You are invited to the closing event on Tuesday 4th October 2011, from 6-8pm, where I will be giving an informal Artist's Talk about my research and the work within the exhibition, from 7pm onwards.

If you would like to attend please RSVP to connitex@gold.ac.uk, by Monday 3rd October 2011.

Details of the CHRC:

Constance Howard Centre for Textiles Goldsmiths, University of London Deptford Town Hall Building (Basement) New Cross Road, London SE14 6AF Telephone: +44(0)20 7717 2210

For further information on the project, please visit the 'REDIRECTION and NETWORK TIMEOUT' a-n Artists Talking blog - http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/1266895.

Hope that you can make it!

Installing the exhibition at CHRC....

I am currently in the process of installing my solo show at the Constance Howard Research Centre at Goldsmiths College, London.  You can read more about this on my artists talking blog, here - http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/1266895.

Please read below the press release for the exhibition which opens on the 6th September 2011 and runs until the 6th October 2011.

---------------------------

'REDIRECTION and NETWORK TIMEOUT' is a solo exhibition by Jenny Steele at the Constance Howard Centre, Goldsmiths, from the 6th September until 6th October 2011. Jenny Steele will showcase works from her recent research residency at the 501 Artspace, Chongqing, China, for the first time to a UK audience. Steele's project at 501 Artspace (1st June- 12th July 2011) researched into how locals navigate physical and digital space, particularly exploring issues of governmental censorship and control. She also investigated how ancient Ming Dynasty walled city layouts reflected the current hierarchical control imposed online by the government of the People’s Republic of China, continuing to control inhabitant’s movements in both digital and physical space.




Within the PRC, Western social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Blogger, YouTube and Posterous are banned, as well as numerous sites that are deemed with content that is sexual, provocative or challenging the PRC government. When a user tries to access these sites, they are redirected to a previous page, or a screen flashes up that tells the ‘netizen’ that the network has 'timed out'. Subsequently, Chinese users are kept separate from a large majority of the supposedly libertarian internet, and they have set up their own versions of social networking sites for Fanfou (Twitter), Renren (Facebook) and QQ (Twitter, Facebook and MSN hybrid). The aforementioned networks are also governed by PRC officials, removing posts and users that are inappropriate. This process of 'redirection and network timeout' divides PRC online users, from all other international users, reflecting the countries historical approach to town planning that controls movement. Through drawing, wood block printmaking, and site specific installations in Chongqing, Jenny Steele sought to map out and chart movements, and redirection, in physical and digital space, by referencing digital interfaces, historical architecture and town planning.



For this exhibition at the CHRC, Jenny Steele presents drawings and woodblock prints, also displaying photographs of site-specific installations, and an architectural model of her installation, 'Attempts to enter the Forbidden City'. The project 'REDIRECTION and NETWORK TIMEOUT', at 501 Artspace, Chongqing, was organised in association with the Chinese Arts Centre, Manchester, and funded by Grants for the Arts, Arts Council England.



Jenny Steele is an artist, researcher, lecturer, and Goldsmiths alumni (MFA Textiles 2007). She has exhibited widely in the UK, as well as within China, Japan and USA. Upcoming events include a presentation at RE-WIRE Conference at FACT, Liverpool (28th Sept 2011), and MULTIPLE OCCUPANCY, a 3-person exhibition at Hatch Space, London (19th- 29th October 2011). Jenny Steele is currently based at Rogue Studios, Manchester.



‘REDIRECTION and NETWORK TIMEOUT’ opens at the Constance Howard Research Centre on the 6th September 2011 and runs until the 6th October 2011.



Please note, the centre is only open Tuesdays and Thursdays only, from 10.00am- 4.30pm.



Constance Howard Centre for Textiles

Goldsmiths, University of London

Deptford Town Hall Building (Basement)

New Cross Road, London

SE14 6AF

Telephone: +44(0)20 7717 2210


For further information on the project, please visit the 'REDIRECTION and NETWORK TIMEOUT' a-n Artists Talking blog - www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/1266895.


For press enquiries, and any other queries, please contact - jennysteelelondon@gmail.com.


http://www.jennysteele.co.uk/

Heading off to Chongqing, 1st June 2011

Xiaonei Map, 2011, Woodcut and pen on paper.

Well the time has come to head off to Chongqing to undertake my research project there.  I can say that I am very excited and a little bit nervous too.  It has been a busy few weeks, getting ready, finishing off teaching and projects here...

This past week, I finally managed to get onto the Beaver Press at London Print Studio to make some large prints of my woodcut.  I had forgotten what a lovely, relaxed place it is, and there was some very interesting work going on there too.  They also have an interesting and diverse exhibition on in the gallery space; Cuban Gold: Viva La Reproduccion, which showcases a range of Cuban printmakers work today.  There is also an exhibition, 'In Relief', in the print studio itself which displays a range of relief prints by current users.

I have also had some interesting meetings with fellow artists, Harriet Hill and Hannah Westwood, who I will in a 3 person show with at Hatchspace this October.  We have been developing our ideas around 'MULTIPLE OCCUPANCY', I will say no more, but there will be more to follow.

I have been back to the Constance Howard Research Centre at Goldsmiths College to measure up the exhibition space for my show in September, and chat with Lizzie Cannon who currently works there.  It is a big space I have to fill - exciting! The show is set for the 6th September until 6th October 2011.

Last Friday was my last working day at RUTC College, we went for leaving drinks, and they were very kind to give me some lovely books as a leaving gift, which was very generous of them.  Thank you guys! I will be back to visit!

Last but not least, I leave on Wednesday for Chongqing, and will be in residence there until the 2nd July, after which I will travel for 10 days to Xian and along the Yangzte river with my partner.

I hope you can follow my project blog at   http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/1266895.  I will also be posting on this site.  Happy Bank Holiday!

INTERFACE Conference 2011

I am pleased to let you know that my lighting paper abstract 'Redirection and Network TimeOut - occupation of Internet Architecture in the Chinese Municipality of Chongqing'  has been selected for the INTERFACE 2011 Conference at UCL, held from the 27th-29th July 2011.  The 3rd International Symposium for Humanities and Technology is sponsored by Goldsmiths College, Kings College and UAL, amongst other institutions. 

Please see a revised version of the abstract below -

The People’s Republic of China is internationally renowned for censoring politically or sexually threatening sites upon the internet; monitoring and re-directing sites that are against the government’s values. Western social networking sites such as Blogger, Wordpress and Twitter, and their Chinese counterparts ‘Fanfou’ (Twitter) and Xiaonei (Facebook) – periodically go dark or flash up a ‘Network Timeout’ information message when information within the site is deemed as inappropriate. The development of Software Programmes such as Psiphon (Citizen Lab, Toronto) and Tor allow the user to potentially be anonymous and steer around filtering systems.

Navigation of the aforementioned digital architecture of the Internet is halted and redirected through a hierarchical system, where physical, or digital, mobility is controlled from the top down. Traditional Chinese architecture was built around the concept that the centre or most protected areas of the building were only for the eldest or those with highest esteem within the community – with courtyards, buildings and walls separating the majority of people from possible sites to occupy.

During a residency in Chongqing this summer, I will research into the navigation of both digital and physical architectural sites in the municipality through interview and visual studies. I will also explore the development of interface design in Chinese Internet sites, and how it still heavily interprets and relies upon print layouts to guide the viewer through the digital space. The paper will reflect on the findings of the research enquiry, discussing the government’s control of the assumed non-hierarchical terrain of the Internet.