Creative Europe
Desk UK
for Culture

The rise of video on the web is creating new forms of moving image. And television itself is being challenged by the rise of second screens, by gaming and by participation. This project dives into the heart of these changes to explore new models of creation, interaction and dissemination. How can we develop cultural spaces that mix online and broadcast?

Live Transmission takes three European organisations – Blast Theory (UK), The Patching Zone (NL) and Translocal (FI) – working at the leading edge of digital media into a unique collaboration with Ontario College of Art And Design (OCAD U). Together the partners will stretch the boundaries of mobile culture, live video transmission and game play.

Through research and practical work Live Transmission will bring artists, researchers, developers and educators together to test new models of participation and engagement. It will build a bridge between the European sectors of mobile culture with OCAD U in Toronto where an explosion of mobile development is under way. Both the European partners and the Canadian partner will be enriched and challenged by the bid.

Workshops in Canada, UK, Finland and the Netherlands will share skills and develop new approaches to mobile development. From these intense sessions an international development phase will begin: a smartphone application that enables game play and live transmission will be developed. This work will culminate in a residency at OCAD U where all the partners will create a public demonstration to test the work done. A film will be made to disseminate the outcomes.

Throughout, the project will have a strong online presence and the live transmissions themselves will all be online bridging audiences from all four countries in shared digital spaces. This combination of theatre with games and live broadcasting, online with on the street, the virtual with the embodied will create a rich space for international exchange and collaboration.