Mandy Rose, UWE Creative Arts Fellow
“Convivial tools”, wrote the radical philosopher Ivan Illich in 1973, “ are those which give each person who uses them the greatest opportunity to enrich the environment with the fruits of his or her vision.” This presentation employs Ilich’s concept of “convivial tools” as a framework for thinking about participatory and “user-generated” documentary content. The presentation will draw on examples, of practice that I’ve been part of – BBC’s Video Nation (access TV), Capture Wales (digital storytelling), My Science Fiction Life (collaborative cultural history), and work in the emerging field of collaborative online documentary – The Message and Mapping Main Street.
This framework of “conviviality” highlights ethics and social value, and encourages connections to be identified with historical practices – Mass Observation, the “shared anthropology” of Jean Rouch – and with wider contemporary cultural practice – DIY culture, relational art and craftivism.
Access All Areas Symposium 