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WonderCulture Kiosk - This Thursday 3/12

We have been set a challenge to setup a mini ARK space for the Thursday WonderCulture Event at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff. This is going to be our first public piece and we are really excited. We are thinking about a small knowledge transfer space or somewhere we can bring a bit of relaxation to people. Hope to see you all there.

Empty Shop Windows

Since our chat last night about taking over empty shop windows and turning them into micro theatre productions which are accessible to the public, i have just come across the following article in the San Francisco Chronicle which tackles the same issue with art installations springing up in empty shops. Its much more inspiring use of the dead spaces and could be a huge benefit to the shop owners and artists alike.

Art in Store Fronts, 989 Market by Paul Hayes

ARK booklet first six projects

ARK wednesday club - 18th November

It has always been our intention to travel and go to exciting events to expand our knowledge, and hopefully get new perspectives on different subjects. As part of this weeks club, we are proposing a trip to Cardiff University. To attend their - sustainability week programme. The Wednesday session is entitled - Eating your way to sustainability. You can find more details at this here

If you are interested in joining us then it begins at 6pm until around 9pm. Look forward to seeing you there.

Project 6 - Happy Spaces

We have finally managed to get through all of the ideas that were generated from the launch and got one final project that was very popular during the event. Along with dead spaces there was also a call for Happy spaces. Spaces that would concentrate on wildlife and getting away from things. this is going to be the sixth project we will be looking at. We will be launching a small pdf brochure of the life of ARK so far. If you wish to receive a copy just let us know.

Story Telling

Just come across this True Stories Told Live via Russell Davies blog and thought it fitted in quite nicely with one of the the re-occurring themes at the ARK meet ups of telling stories to share knowledge, ideas and experiences. One of the ideas last night was to turn one one Wednesday night a month into a knowledge sharing night, maybe kicking off with a quick 10 minute presentation by an Arkee on any chosen subject followed by an open  discussion on that same subject. The presentation doesn't need to be formal and you don't need to be an expert it just needs to be something interesting! It also fits quite nicely under the Pop-up education idea which proved popular at the launch and Julian dubbed it the 'Academy' so maybe we can trial one soon?

We are moving our wednesday club

Just to let you know we are moving this week to Cardiff Arts Institute, which used to be incognito opposite the museum. So if you are keen on coming along we will see you all at 7pm.

Project 5 - Word Hospital Wiki setup

For everyone interested in ARK's project 5 – which will be involved in all of the other projects during the next few months – a Wiki has been setup for the beginning of the online Word Hospital.

ARK - Wiki can be found here

You can see what we have so far and add extra discussions to words and issues you have most interest in.

ARK Project announced

Following ARK's launch at the ATRiuM, Cardiff. We have now come up with the first few projects that we will be working on in the coming months.

Project 1 - Lost & Found

Centred around reuse and urban psychology, Lost & Found will investigate issues of ownership, sharing and the good old British weather. Lost & Found aims to bring awareness to the general public through fun one off events. If you are interested in this project please let us know. We will be looking at how to move this on next Wednesday.

Project 2 - Cycling Safely

During the launch Cycling was brought up repeatedly we are therefore going to investigate aspects of Cycling within the Cardiff area. The recent passage from Government figures seems to mean it for us.

"Cycling deaths and serious injuries have soared by a fifth as more people have taken to two wheels during the recession, Government figures showed today. The number of cycle deaths and serious injuries in April-June 2009 totalled 820 - a 19per cent rise of the same period the previous year."

Source - Ray Massey, Daily Mail

Project 3 - Dead spaces

Having personally been an avid user of public transport over the years I wanted to investigate the possibility of bringing back the age of when travelling was an experience, and seen as an adventure. If you would like to investigate concepts and ways forward along these lines then let us know.

Project 4 - Pop up Education

Close to Simon's and Lynsey's heart the Pop up education project, will aim to encourage the development of opportunities to both transfer knowledge and develop 'time banks'. We will also be looking at the unusual and different in how 'education' is delivered. If this sounds interesting let us know and we will be investigating this over the next few weeks.

Project 5 - Word Hospital

Central to ARK has always been heavily invested in inclusivity through the use of simple everyday language. We just needed a name for the project. Word Hospital coined by Mathilde Lopez will become this ongoing project. It will be involved through all of ARK's projects to bring understanding to the language that is currently being used within the social and ecological design sector. Through the project it is hoped that words and the meanings of these words will be re-evaluated and lead to a better understanding for both 'experts' and the general public.