Home > Reviews

June 2010

Hull's first truly independent cinema will open its doors on July 24. That mouthwatering prospect was revealed to those in attendance at the June humberMUD by Hull Film's Espen Jensen.

Jensen, who also explained How to Make Enemies and Annoy People during a presentation that took in his work as a sound artist, co-founder of Hull Art Lab and organiser of countless arts events, shared the speaker lineup with Shift Happens founder Marcus Romer and mobile technology games innovator James Field. Mal Williamson was in the chair.

It was Marcus Romer who demonstrated how to make friends. It was never going to be too hard, having turned up with an iPad that he quickly made available to everyone during the period in time when most mudders are usually piling their plates with food.

Providing a crowd-pleasing tech-fix was merely a teaser to what proved to be an inspirational and visually stimulating overview of life at the helm of York-based Pilot Theatre Company. Romer also explained the reasons behind the creation of the Shift Happens conference – a success story that began following a visit to TED2006 – and his thoughts on the relationship between the arts, learning and technology.

“The box of tricks has just got bigger,” Romer said. “I want to share stuff and keep learning. We need to make use of the connections that we have.”

Romer claimed to not really understand technology, before unveiling footage, images and online examples that involved using the latest pieces of equipment, post-production techniques and  thinking that is well ahead of the curve.

“We throw a lot of stuff at the wall and some of it sticks. The ability to think and be creative is the only thing that will get us through life. We like to ask 'what if?' Everything that we do is about people, stories and humanity.”  

With an image of a previous Shift Happens conference title – Ctrl Shift – behind him, Romer added: “What we have to do is shift the control. For instance, organisations need to be more porous. Interactivity and wanting to be a part of something is a human need and that's what I'm interested in. Make the shift happen.”

Romer was the final speaker in a memorable MUD that was as eclectic as ever. James Field's MA research has included the development of his innovative Frontier chat and gaming environment. Frontier, explained James, was borne out of a desire to “push existing mobile phone technology”. As a result, a lot of time was spent attempting to get a range of non-communicative gadgets communicating with each other.

Currently seeking the tens of thousands of pounds of funding that will enable it to be developed for a host of platforms – although not Apple's mobile devices due to their lack of Flash support – Frontier allows its players to belong and form a community before colonisation takes place. With a real-time demo of the NASA-themed project being played out in front of humbermud's eyes, it was easy to see the potential and even the educational application of the game.

Prior to this, Espen Jensen expressed his dismay at the commodification of art. As someone who agressively resists the documenting of his artistic endeavours, Jensen probably won't appreciate this record of events. But... his 'kettle principle' – which basically boils down to simply “getting on with it” – has enabled some of the more significant 'happenings' in Hull's artscene, at places such as the RED Gallery, the Boathouse and notably in the disused warehouse that played host to 54°North.

It was fascinating to hear Jensen's account of Hull Art Lab's business plan that would have seen the city's Fruit Market area re-imagined as a cultural quarter five years ago – an idea shunned by decision makers at the time but subsequently adopted, albeit without HAL's involvement. Possibly ironic, then, that Jensen himself will return to his old, familiar stomping ground when the independent cinema becomes a reality next month.

Dave Windass