Ross Miller in the Department of English
As part of the Creative Entrepreneur-in-Residence scheme at King's, supported by CreativeWorks, Decoded Collective worked in collaboration with the Department of English to develop a methodology for collaboration between artists and technologists.
From September 2015 to January 2015, Ross Miller of Decoded Collective was in residency with the Department of English at King’s and working on a project titled Devising development – towards a working methodology for collaboration between artists and technologists. For the project, Ross worked closely with Dr Theron Schmidt, Lecturer in Theatre & Liberal Arts, researching and developing methodologies by which artists and technologists might work together.
Ross and Theron hoped that the new methodologies created during the residency could better establish platforms to present artworks online. Both believe that online representation is vital for an artist’s success but find that ready-made systems, such as social media sites, are not adequate platforms to present ideas and artwork. Simultaneously many artists may not have, or have access to, the technological skills needed to make bespoke sites.
During the residency, Ross successfully developed a new hybrid methodology for collaboration. This new methodology drew on the Agile methodology framework, a movement that seeks alternatives to traditional project management by emphasising empirical feedback and team self management. It was also influenced by a wide pool of knowledge and developed in discussion with Theron and artists Mary Paterson and Emma Frankland. The methodology was trialled in a five day workshop where five collaborators were tasked with devising a new imagined archive of feminist performance art. Outputs of the workshop included a technical blueprint for the archive and designs for a 3D navigation tool that embodies feminist values.
Subsequently, Ross's methodology has been used in a commercial project that launched in November 2015, the Human Hotel, a networking site for creatives developed by Decoded Collective with the Danish art collective Wooloo. By using the methodology created by Ross, the site implements a practical change in the ways in which both artists and cultural institutions work with the people and structures of a particular place. When an individual joins the site, they are assigned a personal curator and can stay or host others within the network. There are no online profiles because all communication happens through the team of curators. More information about Human Hotel can be found on their website.
About the artist
Decoded Collective are a group of creative technologists working with organisations and artists to push the boundaries of the interplay between technology, art and design on the web.