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You are invited to....
Wireless London: Future Urban Infrastructures #1
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The first in a series of three lectures at the Architectural Association.

*First Talk:*   Tuesday 18th Jan, 2005, 6:30pm-8.00pm
*Title:*            Civic Communications
*Speakers:*  Armin Medosch vs. Usman Haque 
(see below for bios)

*Location:*
                Architectural Association
                36 Bedford Square
                London WC1B 3ES
                0207 887 4000
                http://www.aaschool.ac.uk

To be followed by an open show and tell session: 8.00pm -9.30pm, 
AA Restaurant. (see details below)

++ Launch of the Wireless London website!

All talks are free, but places are limited.
Please arrive early to avoid disappointment.

__Future Urban Infrastructures, The Talks Series:__

Wireless London's 'Future Urban Infrastructures' talk series and 
open 'show & tell' sessions aim to place Wireless Free Networks in 
the wider framework of Architecture and Urbanism.
Three theorists and practitioners working with Free Networks, the
Semantic Web, and Locative Media have been selected by Wireless 
London, alongside three architects selected by the Architectural 
Association to examine the parallels and frictions between their 
practices and methodologies.

By fostering this dialogue, Wireless London is beginning to examine 
the role of Civic Technologies as a key consideration in urban 
planning and infrastructure, and a vital component of the City's future 
form.

__Open Show & Tell Sessions:__

Each Wireless London talk event will run between 6.30 and 8.00pm 
with speakers and discussion, immediately followed by an open 
'show and tell' session at the AA from 8.00 to 9.30.  The 'show and 
tell' sessions are informal and open for anyone to bring along and 
showcase projects. finished or work in progress, that are relevant to 
this field. These sessions are an opportunity for practitioners, 
students and professionals involved in free networks, arts, wireless 
technologies, architecture, urbanism, education, communications
policy and local government, to meet and discuss current and future 
projects.

If you would like to come and showcase your work, please let us 
know by emailing -> [log in to unmask], or just come along 
(with your own equipment) on the day.

__More about Wireless London & 'Future Urban Infrastructures' 
series:__

*Programme*
#1: Civic Communications: Armin Medosch vs. Usman Haque
    Tuesday 18th January 2005, 6.30pm

#2: Semantic City: Jo Walsh vs. John Bell
    Tuesday 15th February 2005, 6.30pm

#3: Social Exoskeletons: Ben Russell vs. speaker tbc.
    Tuesday 15th March 2005, 6.30pm

In the last five years, usage and development of wireless Free 
Networks, worldwide and in the UK, especially in London, has 
grown enormously. In the next few years this will profoundly effect 
usage of the city. As this technology becomes ubiquitous, the 
potential scale of these networks is expanding into a future urban 
infrastructure. This modular system will ultimately become a new 
area of architectural concern.

The considerations, understanding and development of Free 
Networks mirrors and supplement many architectural concerns: 
delineation of public and private space, social and economic impact 
of technology, systems, emergence, and cartography. Practitioners 
from the field of wireless technologies and Free Networks are 
embracing and exploring spatial ideas and having to assess
the impact of their interventions. Through practical application in an 
urban environment, they are discovering architectural 
methodologies and using them to shape their emerging practices.
At the same time, the growth of Civic Technology; communities and 
groups taking ownership of and responsibility for their own 
communications systems is a prescient example of how city 
dwellers might begin to communicate and organise themselves on 
their own terms.

This series of talks and presentations invites representation from 
these areas of research to address the histories, potentials, 
practicalities and dreams of a Wireless London.

Each of the three talks consists of two speakers, one nominated by 
the AA and one by Wireless London; the AA has chosen the 
speakers from the field of architecture and urbanism, Wireless 
London has invited speakers from areas such as free networking, 
locative media, and the semantic web. The informal networking 
event following each talk will allow more detailed discussion
and the examination of work in progress from this emerging field.

__More about Wireless London__

Wireless London is a strategic project, funded by the Arts Council of
England's New Media Projects Fund to stimulate and support the 
growth and innovation of London's pioneering Free Networks 
groups.

The website launches on the 18th January at this event.

__Biographies of this month's Speakers__

Usman Haque: http://haque.co.uk
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 Usman Haque is an architect specialising in the design of 
interactive systems that explore how people relate to each other and 
their spaces. He has created responsive projection environments, 
interactive installations, digital interface devices and choreographed 
performances. He has been artist-in-residence at the International 
Academy of Media Arts and Sciences, Japan; a researcher at the 
Interaction Design Institute Ivrea, Italy, and has also worked in USA 
and Malaysia. He is currently teaching in the Interactive Architecture 
Workshop at the Bartlett School of Architecture, London.

 Current projects include the Open Source Architecture Experiment
(experiments in spatial collaboration); 1000 Little Tips of 
Communication (a collaboration with wearable interface designer 
Despina Papadapolous to explore the role of RFID and GPS at the 
intersection of "technological bodies" and "technological
spaces") and Haunt, an experiment to construct "haunted" spaces 
through physical phenomena.

 He is a recipient of a Wellcome Trust Sciart Award, a grant from the
Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science and Technology, the 
Swiss Creation Prize, Belluard Bollwerk International and the Japan 
Media Arts Festival Excellence prize and his work has been exhibited 
at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (London), Ars Electronica 
(Austria), the Hillside Gallery (Tokyo), the Tokyo Metropolitan 
Museum of Photography and Fabrica gallery, (Brighton).

Armin Medosch

    *  Name: Armin Medosch
    * personal homepage: N / A?
    * main activities: writing (fiction and non-fiction), curating/event
      organising (exhibitions, conferences), art (media/net art)

websites:
    * KOP http://kop.kein.org
    * Ports http://scansite.org/ports/
    * MAIDM Wiki http://maidm.com/wiki/
    * DMZ http://www.dmzlondon.net/
    * Telepolis http://www.heise.de/tp/
    * ASU http://asu.sil.at/

main current work:
    * Senior associate lecturer in digital media at Ravensbourne 
College (fractional)
    * Ports: Ninepin artist in residency . an investigation into real and
      virtual
    * ports as local hubs of globalisation
    * Chaos Lab Reader: writer/editor of a post-conference publication 
on science, arts and social change
    * Game Commons: R&D project to develop an interactive live and
      networkedgame