30 August 2007

VCOM helmet - tackling a world of virtual communication

University of Dundee Masters Show 2007

Mobile phones with a hundred dazzling features we never use. Portable e-mail devices to ensure we are never entirely separated from the office. `Social networking’ websites which enable us to never actually physically see anyone but keep up to date with their lives.

All of these have become regular features of everyday life, and many people regard them as indispensable, but how much do we really need them?

That is among the questions raised by the Virtual Existence Communication Helmet, on show at this year’s Masters Show at the University of Dundee.

Designed by Iain Carnegie, one of the Masters of Design students at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design who is exhibiting his work at the show, the VCOM is designed to make us think about how our communication is increasingly virtual and our need for physical presence during communication is diminishing.

"Five years ago nobody needed a 5-megapixel camera on their phone, or a mobile phone you could watch a film on," said Iain, who is a freelance designer in Dundee. "Most people still don’t need these now, but they are marketed to us as essential tools for a modern life and they have grown to take a place in society in a short period of time."

"Through the course of my project the research has revolved around digital communication and I’ve found that with mobile phones, for instance, almost everyone only needs them for texting or calling. The multitude of extra functions are purely opportunistic. For example you’ll find that many people with phones that can hold 3-gigabytes of MP3 files will still have an iPod."

"What my project is looking at is to what extent all this new technology is now becoming between us as a society, now that the need for a physical presence in the context of communicating with each other is diminishing rapidly."

"There are a lot of questions around this, and my project attempts to bring these issues into a physical form and make us think about what we are doing."

"The helmet, which has both internal and external screens and effectively shuts the user off from the outside world while also presenting an image for others to see acknowledges that as we live an increasingly digitally mediated culture the ability for users to appear as something they’re not also increases."

Iain’s work is among a dazzling array of work from more than 40 artists and designers at Masters Show 2007, which opens on Saturday.

The Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design `Masters Show 2007’ features work from the four Masters courses run in Fine Art, Electronic Imaging, Design, and Animation & Visualisation.

Duncan of Jordanstone’s postgraduate programmes are amongst the most innovative and exciting in the UK, something which is vividly reflected in the Masters Show.

Jeanette Paul, Head of the Duncan of Jordanstone Graduate Centre, said, "The 2007 Duncan of Jordanstone Masters Show demonstrates exceptional talent and diversity, with boundaries continually being extended and eroded, resulting in exciting work in a variety of media."

The exhibition will take place in two centres - Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, and Kangaroo Self Storage, 52 - 54 East Dock Street, which has provided 10,000 sq feet of space for the artists to show their work.

Last year’s show was staged in the same two venues and attracted more than 2000 visitors.

There is a strong international flavour to this year’s show, with a particularly strong element from the Far East displaying the strong links the College has established with institutions and artists in China and Japan.

The Graduate Centre established at Duncan of Jordanstone in 2005 is designed around a strong research ethos and brings together taught postgraduate programmes in a creative and flexible environment. Programmes can be undertaken either as preparation for further academic research at doctoratal level , or to focus on developing high-level skills and competencies for professional practice and employment in industry.

Duncan of Jordanstone’s research mission is simple: to create a national and international centre of excellence in research and practice that is innovative, integrated, relevant and distinctive.

DUNDEE MASTERS SHOW
Sat 1st - Thurs 13th September 2007
Opening hours: Monday to Friday 11.00am to 5.00pm
Saturday 11.00am to 3.00pm

Film screenings 3 & 10 September 6pm

Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art
13 Perth Road
Dundee DD1 4HT

Kangaroo Self Storage
52 - 54 East Dock Street
Dundee DD1 3JX

For media enquiries contact:
Roddy Isles
Head, Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384910
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk