Philip Mayer
Placement at The Institute of IT Research (IPTI)
A pioneering project to digitise cultural centres and establish a network for the sharing of cultural products in Brazil led to two Interact placements for British-based artists.
Part of the Brazilian government’s Pontos de Cultura (Cultural Points) initiative, it involved connecting up existing cultural organisations all over Brazil, ranging from film clubs and samba schools to native American groups documenting their culture.
Under the ‘Cultura Viva’ programme, these communities were provided with multimedia studios configured with free and open source software tools and supported with regional workshops, enabling them to produce digital content and to communicate with other groups across Brazil and beyond. The aim was to establish some 600 Cultural Points.
The Arts Council’s host partner in Brazil was the IPTI - Institute de Pesquisas em Tecnologia da Informação (Institute of Information Technology Research) - a Sao Paolo multidisciplinary centre of study, research and installation of IT services.
Philip Mayer is a London based graphic designer and video artist, who has been performing under the name VJ Sorted for several years. He also designs and manufactures large-scale aluminium-framed geodesic domes for use as touring venues.
His ambition in Brazil was to explore the use of web TV platforms to initiate live participatory performances across the Cultura Viva programme, thus enabling inspiration shared virtually to become shared virtual creativity.
See also Pedro Zaz