4iP in Scotland with ISO: our first major project "Central Station"

[Ewan McIntosh]

In today's Sunday Herald comes a 'reveal' on 4iP's first major project in Scotland, with independent interactive designers ISO. Central Station is a place to share your art and find new talent, be mentored by some of the art world's best names and be entertained by and engaged in the making of a web fiction. The action starts this April.

Edd McCracken's piece concentrates mostly on the web fiction, to be filmed in and around Glasgow School of Art, one of many partners in the project (it wasn't, as the caption on the printed piece suggests, chosen by me as a backdrop but was one of many partners already in place thanks to the prep work of ISO and Mr C on the project).

But far from being "telly on the web", something 4iP's not interested in, the web fiction elements will in themselves reflect the art, artists and techniques being talked about by communities of artists aggregated in and around Central Station; as Damien Smith of ISO put it in our planning meeting last November, they will be "of the medium".

Amateur artists aspiring and those already making moves in art schools around the country will also find a place where they can share their artwork, with the chance to win regular prizes that, really, money cannot buy. The final award after nearly a year of frenzied publishing will be a major cash art prize, we think, the world's biggest for social media creativity. As well as finding the next Banksy, the hope is that the online creativity of more people, something long romanticised but in reality little realised, is spun into orbit. Watch this space.

Dive in a take a peek at the article, and also at our new featured group this fortnight, covering the company with whom we have the pleasure of developing this artistic beast: ISO.

[Mark Rock]

Stuart - that was the one. Can feel my sanity returning.....

[Stuart Cosgrove]

No your not Mark - there was a web demo of some material at a NESTA event I was there in a NESTA trustee role and showed a link to some material - same project but very early days and not off-loaded...It was up alongside a Skins marketing project and Big Art online. Was about C4 innovation online

[Ewan McIntosh]

Maybe not completely... I went off and did a wee bit of digging and it turns out that it was indeed Damien, from ISO, who you may have seen present at a C4 event as 4iP funding was being drawn together (there's no mistake that, for us, Central Station is somewhat the poster boy of how partnership and funding should work). Probably before the catchy lingo of '4iP' was tripping off our tongues ;-) as it is now (double ;-) But Central Station has always been a web-only 4iP project based around partnership funding and support, with aims wider than purely the clear educational ones. Thanks for the comments - I hope you love the project when it begins in earnest.

[Mark Rock]

I am going bonkers then....

[Ewan McIntosh]

@Mark - this isn't an Education project. It's been nurtured in Scotland as a 4iP project by Stuart Cosgrove, Director of Nations and Regions, since last summer, and developed with ISO and myself since August. There's no promo even now, let alone last Spring. If there were, I wouldn't have to give Ivan this huge further explanation... ;-)

@Ivan - we want the filmed segments to reflect art, so each one could be indicative of a style that's being talked about in the various arms and legs of the social networks around Central Station (I'd love to see a manga-esque one-off, maybe something filmed through the lens of street-art, for example - I feel the style of the film should reflect the style of art that's being talked about, that's part of a call to action, that's been uploaded by the community). It's making the form of the filming and storytelling part of the 'display' of art on the site, and by its co-creation with or, at least, inspiration by the community, part of the interaction, too.

[Ivan Pope]

OK, just blogged it http://blog.ivanpope.com/awol/2009/01/upload-your-art.html

[Ivan Pope]

The drama will be shot in such a way as to be of the medium'," said McIntosh.
That sounds really good - but what does it mean? Could you elaborate? Can we discuss? Almost sounds like a contradiction in terms for a 'shot' 'soap' - but I look forward to knowing more.

[Mark Rock]

Hi Ewan.

I'm sure I saw a promo of this being mooted as a C4 education project at a NESTA do back in May 2008. Am I losing my memory or is there a dark conspiracy to offload expensive C4 projects into the 4IP fund? :)