[-empyre-] Creativity as a social ontology

[magnus lawrie]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks to Simon and the other Empyre organizers for this invitation.
I'm excited to have been introduced to such a broad-ranging
discussion, posts from which I have been finding rewarding to read and
re-read.

Aiming to sum up the life of The Chateau (a now closed-down artists'
studios) feels to me a little bit like attempting a summary of the
threads in this thickly interwoven discussion, so I'll instead draw
the lens closer, to talk about my own involvement there, up until
2008, when the building was decommissioned and the people dispersed
and they began to work in other projects: Shortly after I took a space
at The Chateau in 2004, my rented apartment was sold from under me. As
a consequence, I moved all my belongings to The Chateau for storage.
Out of this act, a library started and this was the beginnings of an
information centre, open for all visitors to the building. So this
resource came out of the mass of belongings I had assembled and from
this point, two of us came to the idea of getting some recycled
computers running, basically, for people doing office work (in a time
before the present ubiquity of devices). Later on an internet
connection was installed and with the help of the local Linux Users
Group we set up a small LAN. Other people got involved, built up the
computer infrastructure and helped out in doing streaming media for
The Chateau and then other local events. After a time, the few of us
actively involved came up with the name The Chateau Institue of
Technology (ChIT): http://www.chit.org.uk/chit ChIT was publicized
with a High Tea at The Chateau, featuring computers, home-made cakes,
djs and a show of work from numerous members of The Chateau studios,
some of this event is represented at http://www.chateaugateau.co.uk

ChIT came into existence within the fabric of a delapidated building
and diverse creative groupings of people. It was realized first of all
in a physical way and depended on direct physical meetings between
those stakeholders who showed an interest. Communication at such
meetings certainly was facilitated and augmented by the existence of a
mailing list, use of which was also important in getting wider
approval for the establishment of ChIT (basically a hacklab for The
Chateau folk). A personally significant pre-cursor to The Chateau was
in a similarly dilapidated house in Cologne where I established
computer internet access for a small community of artist residents,
our friends and our collaborators - from the Fluxus inspired Ultimate
Akademie (so we had monomeals and streaming media cooking together)
... see http://www.ditch.org.uk/loveloft (the name emerged prior to my
arrival, btw)

In all of my work I am interested in process; I think a consequence of
becoming closely involved with aspects of organization, of settling
myself within social assemblages (co-incidences?) where the physical
structures are significant in how people relate to one another. These
environments (usually involving some kind of computer cable-salad)
bring to mind Simon's (eloquent) mention of 'creative entanglements',
his proposal of “...a folding of agency and creativity into one thing
which might be considered somewhat like a dark matter which binds
everything together.” I have some understanding of how this happens in
the physical contexts described above, but my experience is distinct
from the purely virtual networks which Helen has cited. 

I hope this is some helpful background to get started. I'm looking
forward to hearing from everyone through the week and to learning more
about Furtherfield from Ruth.

Best wishes,

Magnus