Finally got to see my artworks for Coded Moments in the gallery at Victoria University! The space as smaller than expected and had a lot of through traffic, which as good and bad. Good because loads of people saw my work, bad because it was so noisy! There were a set of sliding doors that led onto Flinders Street which automatically opened whenever anyone walked by (even if they weren’t coming in) and with the grumble of traffic and ding ding of the trams I thought it would be impossible to really immerse oneself in the works.

Surprisingly though, this wasn’t the case. All my users (did more user testing) at some point said that the gallery and ambient noises disappeared for them as they concentrated on the works. I was exceptionally lucky to have two users who had seen the exhibition in Scotland also be in Australia for the IMPACT conference, so I tested the works on them too. The exhibition in Scotland was in a standard white cube where as this was more a public space – amazingly, according to these two users the works were not at all compromised by being in a public space as opposed to the white cube. I have my theories as to why this is so, but that's for my thesis, not a blog post : )

Its all up and running fine after so long co-ordinating everything from here in Scotland! It was hard not being at the opening and I am so thankful to one friend on the ground in Melbourne who kept me updated as things happened… never did I think I would be so grateful for my facebook account! She uploaded photos as things were happening and that made the world of difference… still not the same as being there.

We’ve used Android handsets in the Australian exhibition if people don’t have their own tech, but the feedback so far from the curator is that everyone is downloading i-nigma and using it o their phones. They haven’t actually loaned the Android handsets out once – so different from the exhibitions here in Scotland where people prefer to use the ipod touches that we provide in the gallery space. When I’m out there myself and do testing on groups out there, I’ll be able to work out whether it is a cultural thing, a media-exposure thing, or a telecoms thing… or perhaps its that those who pass through the Foyer Gallery of Victoria Uni are just more tech-ed up because the demographic of a capital city is very different to that of a small town generally. All things that need further investigation….

Kirsten Rann, the curator for my exhibition sent through the invite for my exhibition today. I’m very pleased with the way it looks! It opens next Tuesday the 6^th of September in Melbourne.

Finally got my works out of Australian customs for the exhibition, but not after stumping up $250 just for the privilege of releasing them, with absolutely no financial gain to anyone except FedEx. Remind me never to use them again for sending work. I then had to write a letter to FedEx to get part  (less than half!!!) of my money back – the rest I suspect they pocket just because they feel like it. Will resist the temptation to go a rant on the evils of money grabbing courier companies in cahoots with government policies.

Have also been working on a paper and presentation with Chris Speed for ISEA2011 in Istanbul, this September before I go to Australia. I’m looking forward to finally getting to ISEA. Last time I had a paper accepted in 2009, I ended up not being able to go because I had just given birth, and post-natal life didn’t go according to my overly zealous and rather naïve plans. I was very lucky though, in that Chris was very kind and presented for me then, so I didn't totally miss out, just wasn’t there in person. I remember many years ago when I worked for dLux media arts in Sydney, hearing of the “bigwigs” in Australian New Media Art at the time swanning off to ISEA and thinking how fantastic it all was. Now being based in Europe I have a totally different perspective of the whole event, and am much much less in awe of things… probably that also comes from being in 15 odd years older as well.

Going to ISEA does mean, however, that I miss my own exhibition opening of Coded Moments in Australia, which is a real shame, but I can’t be in two places at once…