Storytelling Pictures

I have uploaded photos of the Tactical Nomadic Storytelling Demo to Flickr.

Tactical Nomadic Storytelling

Tactical Nomadic Storytelling
Pattie Belle Hastings

World Storytelling Day, March 20, 2009 (spring equinox)
Tactical Nomadic Storytelling will start at 6:30 pm (sunset)
at the Kunstnernes Hus and then depart for wanderings
and tellings around the city of Oslo.

Atelier Nord
Wergelandsveien 17, N-0167 Oslo Norway

TNS (for short) is an art project that combines live storytelling and props with mobile digital media (visual and audio). Pattie Belle Hastings is currently in residence at Atelier Nord creating a mobile storytelling projection unit and a series of short stories that combine video/animation, audio, mobile devices and live performance. These digital live art experiences are designed to be performed strategically and spontaneously at tram stops, T-Bane stations, corners, alleys, bathrooms - virtually any spot on the street or any unexpected place around Oslo.

Six Months as a Fulbright

My official time as a Fulbright scholar ended on February 15th. Some people have been curious about what I have been doing during the past 6 months, so I came up with a general list. It does not include paperwork, project proposals, studio and writing time, commuting by boat, family duties, family travel, or specific art projects. Some of those things are pretty well documented on my blogs. I will write more about the creative work when more pieces are closer to finished. There are many things upcoming and in process, including speaking at a conference in Philadelphia in June.

Fulbright Norway


















Fulbright Orientation
August 25 & 26, 2008 at the
Nobel Institute

Fulbright Potlucks
Various

Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony
December 10, 2008

Fulbright Seminar & Ski Retreat
February 12-15, 2009

Lectures/Presentations





















The Oslo School of Architecture and Design:

September 5, 2008
Lecture to PhD Program:
Art Practice as Research – Case Study: Cyborg Mommy

September 29, 2008
Lecture to Industrial Design Masters Program:
Identity and the Data Body

October 20, 2008
Lecture/workshop to PhD Program:
Research Aids: Web 2.0 applications for data collection and mind mapping

November 3, 2008
Lecture/workshop to PhD Program:
Blogging as a researcher, designer and educator

December 4, 2008
Research by Design, An AHO Research Seminar
The Mobile Manifesto: a work in process

March 23, 2008
Lecture to Interactive Design Masters Program,
Mobile Misuse: Tactical Nomadic Storytelling



University of Oslo:

GRIG - Guild for mixed reality integrators & generators (annual meeting)
A group of European artistic and cultural operators creating & researching mixed reality works that intertwine digital media & physical materials, objects & spaces.
Presentation on Mobile Misuse, Dec. 3, 2008



Høgskulen i Volda (Volda University College):

Ulsteinseminaret, December 8-9, 2008
Informasjonsutdanninga ved Avdeling for Mediefag
Interactive Design Education: The precarious balance between theory and practice
(seminar participation and presentation)

Smart Mobs and Mobile Media Workshop, January 20-22, 2009
Three day hands-on workshop for undergraduate students in the Media and Journalism program.



Artist’s Residency

Atelier Nord, March 2-20, 2009
Project production support for Tactical Nomadic Storytelling
“Atelier Nord is a project base for unstable art forms, such as electronic and new media art. Our aim is to create better conditions for these art forms, and to maintain a critical reflection in relation to them. Our work consists of producing and supporting projects that promote these goals.”

Publications

Journal of Artists’ Books
“I (heart) DIY CMYK,” JAB25 (Spring 2009)
JAB25 focuses on offset printing, guest-edited by Tony White.

Blogs

Performing the Art
Mobile Misuse

Conferences/Workshops/Lectures Attended
(not including the ones at which I presented)

Intermedia, Universitetet i Oslo
September 25, 2008
Intermedia’s 10th Anniversary Celebration (lectures, posters, reception)

Transmedia Literacy and Identity Development
Jay Lemke at UiO, October 9, 2008

Social Web and Learning Conference
Universitetet i Oslo, October 16th, 2008
Keynotes: danah boyd and Neil Selwyn

Atelier Nord
Data Forensics in the Landscape (pictures)
November 6-8, 2008

Ruminations

I have been having the hardest time getting myself to write a blog post. Too much on my mind, too much to do and too much news. I need to focus on preparing my presentation for a Fulbright seminar next Thursday and then all the Fulbrighters are going on a ski weekend to Lillehammer. The trip to Stockholm was fantastic and I want to write about that. Projects are proceeding and I want to write about that. BUT the biggest news is that we have decided to go back to the US on March 31st. That’s right, in less than two months.

My official time as a Fulbrighter ends on February 15. We were unable to get approval from Norwegian Immigration for me to stay through the summer (long story that involves much paperwork and bureaucracy) and on the other side, US Immigration will require that B apply for a re-entry visa if he stays out of the country past June 12. A’s passport expires in May, which means that we would have to make several trips to the US Embassy to take care of more paperwork and bureaucracy. We have actually been through enormous amounts of paperwork and bureaucracy just to get through the Fulbright application process and to live here in Norway - comparable to what we went through for B’s US resident alien status 15 years ago. We are completely burned out on it. We are homesick and often lonely. A is really longing for her old life and her old school. I think we have all gotten what we came for from the experience... It has been a damn hard decision to make and we are very disappointed that we won’t get to spend the summer here, but we will get to do new and different things this summer...

I’m going to start on the final Norway edition of PB’s Newsy News when we get back from Lillehammer, so I will go into more detail in the newsletter.

OK. Gotta get back to work now. The hour glass has broken and the sand is pouring out much faster than we anticipated...

Notes from a very busy December

The past three weeks have sped by in a blur. The speed effect has to do with the amount of travel, obligations and deadlines that packed my schedule. It all started with midterm grant report deadlines on December 1 and then meetings, presentations and seminars at UiO and AHO on the 3rd and 4th. A restful Friday, then a Juleverksted* (Christmas workshop) with friends on Saturday and off to Volda to meet with Torill on Sunday. After two days of a seminar in Volda, I flew back and the next day attended the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony. In between all these events, I received notice that a journal article I had written was being emailed for revisions and I had just over a week to turn it around. December 11th involved laundry, packing, gift wrapping and package mailing (to Virginia) before we left to take the Ship to Copenhagen. While in Copenhagen I got news that a conference proposal that I had submitted in late November had been accepted. We returned from Copenhagen Sunday, December 14th and I hit the ground running on article writing and final Christmas preparations. Done and Done. Phew! School is out and we are all three officially on holiday. The only thing left to do is the grocery shopping for the Christmas celebrations.

In the background of all this, B’s mom has been very ill and my mom has just had her 4th surgery on her hip. It’s going to be a strange holiday this year and we are planning as many social engagements as possible to keep from getting homesick and fretting too much.

*Juleverksted: any combination of making cookies, cards, presents, wrapping, or festive foods, etc.

The Peace Prize Ceremony

Nobel Peace Prize Celebrations

I have uploaded my few decent shots to Flickr from the ceremony yesterday, but I don’t have time to describe the event right now. We’re off to København (Copenhagen) this afternoon and I have presents to wrap & ship to Virginia and packing... I will have much to tell when we return Sunday - it has been a very busy and productive time lately.

The Invitation

Qba

Qba, originally uploaded by Jon Olav.

Chatting with Andrew, Synne and Jon Olav after a day of working at AHO.

The Commute

Ferry time in Oslo is like train time in New England. Time to have a bite, get a little work or reading done, and time to prepare for a day in the city.

I am doing better. I had a good cry and moved on. As if life wasn’t complicated and expensive enough, a tree fell in our New Haven yard and damaged our neighbor’s property. We are trying to deal with that from afar. B may have to fly back this week to help take care of it... No one was hurt - that’s the important thing.

My work is coming along nicely. I have various project, conference and exhibition proposals due this week. I’m excited by the prospects of these new projects and I will be more descriptive when details are a bit firmer.

Yesterday I mailed 1 small package and 7 letters. The total postage came to 240kr - that’s $35 in today’s exchange rate. The postage amounted to much more than the actual value of the contents. Ah, well, back to work.

Worry Knot

I think I’m finally putting my finger on it. I have been experiencing an on again off again anxiety since our trip to Italy. I have been dismissing it as basic displacement, but I think it is more complicated than that. In that time, I have been glued to the US newspapers and news sites, reading every item on the collapse of the economy and the 2008 election. The Fulbright organizations are thorough and clear, in their forms and orientation materials, about the ups and downs that scholars go through in their moves to other countries. They are also specific on the process and methods of extracting scholars from countries that enter into civil war or a similar crisis. There wasn’t anything in the documents about crisis in your own country, or state, or neighborhood. We simply look on from afar.

The news for New Haven is bleak. As our current Mayor said, when the state of Connecticut gets a cold, New Haven gets pneumonia. Right now it looks like Connecticut has a cold that is becoming a sinus infection. My friends and family are OK. No one is losing their house or job, yet (that I know of…) But their businesses are affected and I worry. Our bank and mortgage company have changed hands and I worry. We are 10 days away from the most important election in decades and I worry. Transition to another country is difficult for all members of my family and I worry. Just taking a family of three to the movies here is about $100 and I worry.

I also think about Dad. We are approaching the one year anniversary of his death and it occupies my mind. I’m glad that I will be far away at Thanksgiving. I need the distance and solitude to process this grief.

So here’s my strategy: A total news fast. I don’t know if it will help or work, but it will free up a goodly chunk of time that I can use for something else (yoga, meditation, art, cleaning…) I also plan to have a really good cry. Maybe now.

Official Business

Well, it’s official - my page is finally up on the University of Oslo site:

Pattie Belle Hastings - InterMedia

The Nobel Peace Prize...

The Fulbright Norway office gets 5 or so tickets to the Peace Prize Ceremony every year and they have a lottery among all the grantees. I GOT ONE!!! So, I will be attending this years' ceremony! The winner(s) will be announced on October 10th.

The Nobel Peace Prize – The award ceremony

The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in a solemn ceremony in the Oslo City Hall on December 10. Seated on the podium are the Laureate, the Nobel Committee and its permanent secretary. Maintaining a tradition that goes back to 1905, the ceremony is attended by members of the Royal Family. The rows of seats behind the Royal Family are occupied by representatives of the Government, the Storting, the Corps Diplomatique and other specially invited guests.

Genius Loci*

Yesterday I met with Andrew and other interesting scholars/professors at The Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO). The building evokes creative experimentation, reuse, recycling, growth... The spaces inside feel and smell and look like an architecture & design school - reminds me very much of the art schools I have attended and taught at - makes me feel at home. This place has lots of interesting minds to bounce ideas off of, collaborate with and get to know.

*Genius Loci

The Fubright Begins

This past Monday and Tuesday I attended orientation for the Norway Fulbright grantees. There are 28 of us - 14 scholars and 14 graduate students - the largest group of Norwegian Fulbrights to date. It was a chance to get to meet each other and the staff of the Norway Fulbright office in addition to learning loads of information about our host country.

As it turns out, at least two of my Fulbright colleagues are blogging the experience:

Lauren has an excellent summary of the entire orientation on her blog:

...when Norwegians lose some of their shy tendencies to make new friends (not in class, at work, or on the t-bane), what I can do to beat the winter blues without eating all the Freia chocolate products (which I already love!)...

And Kathee touches on the formal reception that was given in our honor:

...After the reception, Anne Kjelling, the Head Librarian of the Nobel Institute, gave us a tour of the building. She focused on the room where the Nobel committee deliberates and explained the process to us...

It was quite inspiring and humbling to be in the atmosphere of the Nobel Institute for two days. The whole range of emotions flowed through the days from elation and excitement to fear and inadequacy. I mentioned these feelings of inadequacy to one of the Norwegians that I met at the reception. He had been a Fulbright scholar in the US decades ago. I was anticipating having to go to the podium in front of the entire audience and announce myself. When I expressed my disbelief that I was worthy of this honor, he looked at me with a big smile and said “You sound just like a Norwegian.”

I have uploaded a few pictures of the Nobel Institute.

Fulbright

Fulbright Scholars in Norway for 08/09