Bio Mapping


Christian Nold


Christian Nold

An artist, teacher and cultural activist living in London. He studied Fine Art at Kingston University as well as Interaction Design at the Royal College of Art. In 2001, he wrote the book 'Mobile Vulgus'. He has been commissioned by Independent Photograhy to develop his Bio Mapping Project into the 'Greenwich Emotion Map'. The Bio Mapping project has been shown in Italy, Holland, Finland, Latvia and India.

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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

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All the work on the Bio Mapping website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 2.5 License. The CSS is adapted from Intensive Station

Last Updated 22.08.07

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Hello I need to get feedback from people about what they think about the Bio Mapping project. Please help by filling out this online form. Thanks so much !!!

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I am in Tokyo speaking and running a Bio Mapping workshop at the Dislocate 07 conference. Come and join us if you are around.

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Link to all the press coveage

The San Francisco Emotion Map is complete. At the end of July I will be Bio Mapping in Tokyo. Until then I am working on my book and setting up a project in Stockport and Stoke Newington. Please see my main site for more info.

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There is a new interview about the Bio Mapping project.

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Bio Mapping has won the SciArt R&D award which will give me time to write a book about the project and commission some critical / historical essays around the project. If you are intersted in writing one get in touch!

Live interview on WAMU US public radio.

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New articles about Bio Mapping on the Discovery Channel the New Scientist and on Slashdot in the German Telepolis, Italian MondoGIS , French Liberation and Techno Science as well as British Council magazine

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A high quality MPEG4 video of the Greenwich Emotion Map is available for download

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I was interviewed on BBC World Service and NewsTalk106. See Tom Hagler's walk in Covent Garden.
(requires Google Earth)

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The Observer carries an article on Bio Mapping. Click on the links to view David Smith's walks in rural Bibury as well as 'Murder Mile' in Hackney.
(requires Google Earth)