Children’s capacity to seek for answers and the power of video

Posted on 04/25/2012 by Sergio

“I’m very sorry, I made a mistake. It won’t happen again¨   Following the last entry on collective wisdom. This blog entry shows an example of wisdom from our children. Sign up to this petition campaign to ask the King of Spain more than an apology in 11 words. He suffered an accident  and this is how we knew about his private safaris killing elephants and wild animals in Africa. His unusual apology  leaving the hospital was the only way out for this crisis. But now what?

This practice that has been  justified by the media for the sake of funding preservation to show the locals that they are  doing some punishment with elephants that are destroying their villages. To the view of my mother I became a Republican!  It remains me of a friend who had cockroachphobia so if I was found to be in the same space or room where the insect was wandering around, then by extention I was already another cockroach with two feet. Surreal as it sounds, but true!

As a  Spaniard living abroad I felt that there is a need for open discussions and constructive self criticism. At the moment I feel ashamed by an apparently adequate  culture of silence by people and the media. The news is not about forgiveness alone. My daughter was shocked to see the picture of the King posing in front of a dead elephant. She asked me to help her to make this video. There was no editorial input besides of asking questions and editing all together. As a father I am clearly opposed to the use of children to be exposed to the wild media of internet, being always reluctant to share the day by day stuff via Facebook and the like, but I hope this is a one off that will help her to reflect back one day with a smile and be as proud as she is now!

 What is the issue?  There are many issues sorrounding these news that I am not aware of and goes beyond my knowledge, but I am not regretting for a second to allow other people to express what they want to say and how they want to say it. This example of participatory  responsible video seems a natural media for children now  who are familiar to use the media  and tools by themselves. Another matter is how to use the media to make them think and be engaged with their environment.

The issue is not a western movie, being the King the BAD of the film. There are more UGLY things to learn about it if we keep asking. However we are still ignorants now, searching for the GOOD is always worthwhile. Isn’t it? Are we converting Africa in a zoo and a playground for the rich people to have fun?

DON’T KILL FOR GAME  These four kids in London are true global citizens and have something to tell to the King!  but we have to learn also from african children as well. They care about making a change. Watch the video  and help us to get viral! If you search online you will be able to read more about the news but it has been kept quiet in some fronts, not in the Spanish speaking social media.

The question remains, and now what? We need your help to spread the message across

Don’t Kill for Game online petition here (bilingual)

http://actuable.es/peticiones/don-t-kill-for-game-mates-jugar

Share these videos!

It is intriguing how we quickly convert headlines to inner thoughts and how little effort we make to build our own opinions based on facts from a wide range of sources. It is our capacity to enquire and our inner curiosity to learn that will allow us to gain the competences we need to build a better world. There has been lots of talks about citizenship journalism. The best lesson starts from school which will enable children to connect with their own and other people’s realities. At the core of this campaign there is something genuine, something about unresolved issues. This generation of global citizens whose simple questions need to be answered are the future!

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Global City Symphony, vote now for BIG call from Cisco!

Posted on 03/28/2012 by Sergio

Let’s make together Global City Symphony the BIG idea!
I am a late entry runner – yes it feels like a pre-Olympics – to participate in Cisco’s British Inovation call for ideas why not giving a shot? maybe the stars are on my side? I’ve submitted an idea for the future cities section within the BIG innovation competition promoted by Cisco.  I need lots of more more votes hopefully 50 +  to being able to move to the semi-finals (yes they call it like that).

Global City Symphony is a co-learning platform that connects peoples and creative solutions using crowdsourced videosto change your city bottom up and create a visioning path for the future through film, online videos and music!  In the UK,  GCS will be focusing in Housing and residents of Housing Estates and close neighbourhoods via the extension of Creative  Generation project across London. The outcome a video archive, informal learning centres and live music with silent films across a network of cities in the UK. Let’s empower old and young people coming and sharing  together their collective
wisdom with solutions towards the future! For more info visit http://www.creative-generation.org.uk

ACT NOW!  The deadline is the 30th of April!    Can you share it online with your friends?

VOTE FOR SERGIO! one click to the thumb up icon here and you are done!
www.thebigawards.co.uk/Page/ViewIdea?ideaid=695

GCS is not just an idea, the seed of pilot project started back in 2009 in India where I  will be heading for a R&D trip  supported by a British Council grant and the partners I worked with back in 2009. Through open presentations and  and active participation we will meet a diverse number of ‘stakeholders’ all with something to contribute to the whole,  with the exciting prospects that until now they never imagined they can possibly work well together!

To learn more about Global City Symphony and Big Bang Lab’s efforts follow these links

GCS Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/globalcitysymphony
Petition http://www.change.org/petitions/global-city-symphony-creative-communities
 Online network http://www.culturalsocialresponsibility.org
Big Bang Lab on social media http://www.microbang-lab.com

A BIG Spring hug from Sergio!

Sergio López Figueroa,
Big Bang Lab, Director
info@bigbang-lab.com
www.bigbang-lab.com
mob. +44 (0)7811458779
Skype kinoscore

Newsroom  www.microbang-lab.com
Video channel  www.vimeo.com/bigbanglab
Online  video www.sharedvoices.net
Online audio http://soundcloud.com/big-bang-lab
Mailing list http://alturl.com/4vcgs
Twitter  @bigbanglab

Facebook facebook.com/bigbanglab

 

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Thanks to The Artist, the silence is over!

Posted on 02/27/2012 by Sergio

I am very pleased to hear that The Artist, a silent film – the first one since 1929 – for winning an oscar this year to both best film and best music. Why?  I am going to explain shamelessly the selfish reasons!

The Artist as an idea is an inspiration on the persistance from the director and producers to materialize a vision and a lesson for all that success is volatile and unpredictable. However overcoming difficulties working from integrity and conviction sooner or later the miracle can happen.

However a question remains, should a contemporary silent film would have made such a hit? is it part of the success that the film is celebrating  a film and therefore made sense – albeit risky – to make it silent?  As in Hugo of Scorsese there is somehow an element of nostalgia for an era that is gone. No doubt that both films are moving and fantastic, but the question is the same. Is there any space in the crowded marketplace for a contemporary feature film that doesn’t deal with the silent era but it is contemporary but silent? How is the audience is going to take it? could it be an arthouse experiment for few, a blockbuster for the masses?

For years since I founded Big Bang Lab in 2008, producing and facilitating the learning opportunities of silent films. However the term silent put lots of people off as back then it was not a cool thing to do. The answer I had was always. Is there an audience for that? Are still people making silent movies?

With a vision of creating a new experience of cinema and understanding beyond language barriers we saw new opportunities to the creation of new silent films and a good way to engage at a new level of creativity. We did it and experimented in many ways from re-creating a narrative with no words using film archives or using a technology word – a mash up – in learning settings for instance with Unseen Voices,  silent film project about the kindertransport and holocaust which eventually won a special jury mention at the European Medea awards for the innovative use of media in education.  Young people from a secondary music school in Brent, London met survivors and created a film to learn about their reading fully aware that they were cheating the audience as any work of art is artificially created, by doing that they learnt about the power of media and propaganda as we saw the commissioned film by Hitler on Theresienstadt concentration camp.

Other via we explored is how contemporary silent films can combine both archive and new footage and trascend cultures as  a tool that allows to deal with difficult issues and make them accessible.  In 2009 I had the privilege of producing a silent film in Delhi with disadvantaged children re-using archives and shooting, participating in the creation of  a new music score and tackling at the same time issues such as waste management or accessibility to classical music education and connexion with heritage through creativity.  That project became a stepstone in my evolving  concept of cultural social responsibility, realizing the potential of a new understanding of creative heritage in the digital and global world we live now. We explored new territories to revitalize a medium of silent film and the power of  music  from both creative, talent development and social impact perspectives. At a personal level it was a transformative project, a two way learning process of tolerance from which I feel privileged. Otherwise how can you explain that the film Berlin, symphony of  a great city was the starting point for children in Delhi to start questioning their city and  creating awareness of their environment without being dismissed as a waste of tim? It wasn’t!

New contemporary digital films  can engage audiences at another level.  And with silent films is how we launched Big Bang Lab with the programme Invitation to a Journey including new music for Germaine Dullac’s film  Invitation au voyage (1927), the event with a celebration and conversation with the audience who in the end performed live music with balloons to the iconic Segundo de Chomon’s El Hotel Electrico.

What can we gain and what we lose with no language driven cinema? Films that have a narrative created beyond words but with high quality production and artistic values? What is the role of the music soundtrack in a silent film?

I am passionate about giving a rebirth of a spiritual value to music that unfortunately is becoming a commodity!  we are passionate at Big Bang Lab to engage and nurture new  young talents in new forms of collaborative in both music and film, creating opportunities and a space to realize their visions.

The Oscar for The Artist is only good news for us and for all of a niche community that are involved in promoting a screen heritage through music or creating new language of cinema, new audiences that have to complete the inevitable but with whom we are co-creating stories, experiences that makes us to think and be entertained. Because we respect audiences we are certain that the dialogue with our audience is crucial to create that empathy that not all success come in a box, that we can’t always expect to apply a formula to film production when the product doesn’t start with vision and integrity as opposed to please the masses. We believe there are opportunities to work with our audiences and don’t expect that they are ready to be brainwashed about criteria of value.

THE FUTURE IS NOW With that business to consumer position with a social enterprise mind I am very pleased to have received a travel grant from the British Council as part of the Connections Through Culture’s programme between India and UK.  Our goal is to establish contacts at all levels to produce a double programme of old and contemporary silent film with music interventions from both classical traditions, looking at new languages and forms of expression.  We will continue with this programme what we started back in 2009 with Delhi City Symphony.

We have created a channel on vimeo open to any filmmaker to submit their contemporary silent films and we are very pleased to hear the interest from the community. To discover new films visit  http://vimeo.com/channels/silentfilms

 

 

 

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What is our wisdom for?

Posted on 02/16/2012 by Sergio

What is wisdom? What can be learnt across generations? We are living longer and have access to tools that allow us to create and distribute digital audio and video content almost instantly. However we are missing the opportunity offered by technology to create, preserve and share the digital content and using it to promote new dialogues of reciprocity  between ages and start thinking of heritage as innovation strategy towards the future. Challenged by uncertain times ahead, we must trust our ability to co-create new paradigms of sustainability if we start  conversations across generations. We need new ideas to build stronger communities and learn  to share resources, ideas, stories, knowledge and skills in a true collaborative and participative environment.  It sounds all good but what is the strategy in such a complex world we live?

Have you ever thought about becoming a cyber grannie? It is not a joke. In the next ten years all baby boomers who were born in the sixties are going to become the new techie savvy generation of elderly, a generation who had to adapt and learn to adapt to every new bit of emerging technologies, nonetheless this generation still have strong memories and experiences of growing up that were less techie oriented or required more human to human or face to face interaction!

Where do we start from?. Old and young don’t mix up, so…  is it all lost? Well, not for Casal Rock, a project involving a group of elderly in Barcelona who became the coolest rock band in the city, breaking all preconceptions on age by getting together to perform live in prisons, secondary schools, making pop videos and bringing a positive message through music!

In certain cultures the respect towards the elderly prevents any form of innovation coming from young people due to a weight of traditions. The youth is unable to express with new voices their needs as response to a new world. There always has been a natural friction between heritage and innovation. However  the current circumstances affecting us all might forced us to make use of our wisdom to come with solutions towards the future. We can’t move forward if we ignore where we are coming from. Memory is the only  resource of learning and evolution that we can rely on and stories are the vehicle of transmission of collective knowledge.  Unfortunately the internal hard drive of our memory system is not able to cope with so much information as we are living in a constant time-short-driven present of immediate experiences and satisfactions. We are relying more and more on Mr or Mrs Google, the grandma and grandpa of our collective memory bank. Facebook’s attempt to expose our all life history to one another is another example of the importance of social memory. Although who cares about my conversations with a goat when I was seven?

The sustainability agenda is missing the point of the intangibles to integrate the creative and intellectual capital.  In this scenario policymakers are missing the point to build constructive intergenerational links.

Since the Arab Spring  uprising and the occupy ‘the world’ movement we are experiencing a new level of participation in communities, willing to get rid of old systems via political, economical oppression. In this cultural and political landscape one should ask, what are the stories that can be passed from one generation to the other when the changes are happening so quickly and affecting us all?  It is easy for policy makers to put us all in boxes and not seeing the interdependence and connectivity of the globalized world we are on now.

We all have the power to contribute to create a new sense of community and being able to have a say to design and imagine the future as we create our present realities based on choices.  Somehow our society has evolved in many positive ways but at the same time the so called ‘developed countries’ are  losing the ability to trust and connect with our senses and with other people who are ‘different’. Older people are living longer and becoming a long term nuisance for the state and families!

The journey from information to knowledge is not leading to wisdom. Why is wisdom so underrated?  The ability to recycle our memories from personal to collective experiences is not a gift of the age as we have also the wisdom of innocence, of the aspirational youth.

At the same time the intoxication of data has left our brains unable to cope. We need personal curators to work for us! This is not something we think every Monday morning, but once in a while it would be great to rely on our wisdom and question why is so neglected! In this scenario almost of science real fiction depicted here

What do you think of the role of our elders in our society?  How memories and wisdom can help to innovate and create links between generations? The gap is becoming wider and no one seems to care. As we live longer, so we better get prepared to discuss what active ageing means for us? for you?  How do you see your self as a cybergrannie?

CREATIVE GENERATION With  all this background as cultural social entrepreneur, I landed with new thoughts and new ideas  to St Martin’s Estate, an inner city Housing Estate in South London in the Summer of 2011.  The huge challenge ahead was how to put together Creative Generation a project aimed to build up relationships and bringing a voice together bottom up and involve as many people as possible across ages in the creative and production process.

We started with basic questions about building communities with a simple principle such as let’s talk!. No one saw the point and it was a struggle.

 Creative Generation is an example of using digital media to transfer and to store human experiences and stories for our present and future generations in new ways. We have recently launched the project this Friday and it was great to see so many people in the community interacting with eachother. This is just the beginning as  the activity will continue online and our aim to expand the project to gain bigger and lasting impact.

In the end we managed to put together two teams of people both old and young and worked together to produce the first ever intergenerational video archive in a Housing Estate. Now we are still looking for stories to create a user generated document that can be shared like a message in a bottle. You can start by simply sharing what have you learnt from your grandparents and if you have never met them what is that you missed more?

To share your story visit the project website and upload your story!

To trigger some thoughts why don’t you watch this short video promo to inspire you? http://vimeo.com/bigbanglab/creativegeneration

Using creativity, knowledge transfer and cultural heritage as innovation strategy for social change has been the core mission of Big Bang Lab since I founded back in 2008. Creative Generation is the ´heartchild´of Big Bang Lab´s founder and director Sergio López Figueroa. To learn more about Big Bang Lab, visit www.bigbang-lab.com

What is our wisdom for? © Sergio Lopez Figueroa, 2012

Posted in Collective Digital Voices, English, Intergenerational shared wisdom, news | 1 Comment

Keeping the crowdversations alive!

Posted on 08/01/2011 by Sergio

BIG BANG FRIENDS, keeping the crowdversations alive!

We are pleased for the support from the quiet riot friends for helping  us to promote our first screening  and networking BIG BANG NIGHT event in London next week. We will be showing Delhi City Symphony and the full version of the documentary Building Fragments.

CREATIVE COMMUNITIES

This screening event is an opportunity to explore the issues of local communities and their involvement in the design of their cities. The evening is designed to trigger open debates and conversations around innovation, culture, creativity and social change.

Remember to join our Linked in group to keep the crowdversations alive!

Among other services, THE QUIET RIOT offers workshops and creative sessions on sustainable innovation by focusing on people as a starting poing and exploring further the opportunities in implementing solutions in energy and resource efficiency, sustainability, business, innovation and design.


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BIG BANG NIGHTS – crowdversations on screen

Posted on 07/23/2011 by Sergio

I am excited to start organizing a series of monthly screening events in London with the purpose of enable conversations around the themes of culture, creativity, innovation for social change. The format is simply starting with a film screening, followed with a Q&A and networking opportunities.

The first of the series is on the 10th of August on the theme  CREATIVE COMMUNITIES and the screening of Delhi City Symphony and Building Fragments.  The event is free but you need to register here!

http://bigbangnights.eventbrite.com

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Senses, capturing memories …

Posted on 07/22/2011 by Sergio

I found a real snail like our Big Bang Lab’s logo during a visit to the Vilanov palace in Warsaw during the conference on cultural competences. I couldn’t resist and took this video. After I started, some other participants from the conference gathered around to say something, to take a snap picture, or to make quiet remarks amongst other peers about a strange person from the group no so much interested in culture, but in nature…?

As Dali said, the answer is under our nose…

Posted in Intergenerational shared wisdom, news | Leave a comment

Competences in Culture, Warsaw 18-20 July 2011

Posted on 05/30/2011 by Sergio

I am very excited about the invitation to participate actively in the panel Creative Partnerships for cultural competences introducing Big Bang Lab and the Cultural Social Responsibility model and case studies at the Competences in Culture conference.

Sergio will present the project as an example of building of creative links between culture and such topics as learning, social responsibility, social innovation; and the results he sees of the project when it comes to the cultural competences.

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Creative Communities and Copyright

Posted on 05/14/2011 by Sergio

Originally published on
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/mediapolicyproject/2011/04/14/cultural-social-responsibility-and-copyright
By Sergio López Figueora

Inspired by the Bart Cammaerts and Bingchun Meng’s media policy brief 1, ‘Creative Destruction and Copyright Protection: Regulatory Responses to File-sharing’, Sergio López Figueora, blogs about his work at Big Bang Lab. Sergio is the director of Big Bang Lab, which is a creative agency specializing in using and re-using original music and silent films from archived visual media in creative workshops and live performances.

As a cultural and social entrepreneur with a music background, I have been working through Big Bang Lab to promote collaborative methodologies and co-creativity in practise, primarily using new processes of digital content creation. Part of this venture is facilitating accessibility to audiovisual archives in order to create new cinema without words or cultural boundaries. We focus on enabling the collective production of new music for live performances and of “mash ups” using digital silent films.

Social impact through innovation and creativity is at the core of our work and we work outside of the traditional commercial model. We are developing new tools to add value to crowdsourced video and audio content in order to improve diverse forms of creative expressions, of citizenship and of democracy. Alongside this, we focus on developing tools for decoding information especially in the context of the future of cities and sustainability.

To achieve our vision, we need new ways of understanding copyright. We want to bring the value of music back to the experiential, back to the unique.  Both of these factors, in combination with films, include looking at new market opportunities and new ways to channel the talent of young filmmakers, composers and musicians.

The copyright model we are looking at is closer to a co-operative model of Intellectual Property.  This co-operative models  uses new agreements and involves working with closed communities as co-creators whilst providing them with free training and access to high quality knowledge from more experienced professionals. In order to test this model, we need to generate enough profit to distribute royalties to all parties. The co-operative or common ownership model comes from a percentage of those royalties.  All parties must agree to lose a certain percentage on behalf of the common good in order to reinvest back to the group or community or even for future generations. This, in a nutshell, is the concept of cultural social responsibility – where consumers and creators are partners – without patronising any participants.

Our real test will be the implementation of Creative Generation, a new digital inclusion project, which involves young people living in a South London Estate creating and managing their own history via audio and video to be used as a common resource to create new songs.

We are looking at technologies in metadata that will allow us to better manage this content and actually facilitate the legal digital consumption and re-distribution of wealth, rather than to protect and create barriers. We are also investigating crowdfinancing to produce digital content that is accessible, exciting and engaging via live performances and/or online experience.

I agree with Bart and Bingchun that technological or legal barriers are not going to bring a balance between creators’ rights and consumption. We look at file-sharing as a promotional opportunity, as applies to our experience, but it is also true that we are not relying only on digital distribution. We don’t know about the future of copyright necessarily, but we do know that our real challenge is about changing mindsets – from audiences to disadvantaged young people labelled as pirates – and to make sure there is a niche marketplace where we can build from the bottom up!

So, if you want to collaborate with us and be part of this ongoing journey, get in touch!

www.bigbang-lab.com
www.sharedvoices.net
www.vimeo.com/bigbanglab
http://vimeo.com/channels/silentfilms


Sign up the the Big Bang Lab’s mailing list: http://alturl.com/jzrss

Posted in Collective Digital Voices, English, Ethical copyright | Leave a comment

Listen, a soundtrack of shared memories

Posted on 04/14/2011 by Sergio

A Big Bang Lab production for Canary Wharf Film Festival 2009. Project featured on a spot on ITV London Tonight 6th September 2009

ʻListen: A Soundtrack of Shared Memoriesʼ was developed to provide a learning exchange between communities, laying down a foundation for engagement and heritage participation. Playing on the themes of picture, sound, and memories, the group has worked together to record oral histories, understand sound editing and create a living soundtrack to silent film from the extensive PLA archive.

At the Nearby screening you can see the finished product and indulge in an open discussion about it with the group. The Port of London Authority work in partnership with commercial, recreational, community and amenity groups and organisations to ensure the Thames continues to be a safe and enjoyable environment for trade, recreation and tourism. The Museum Of London Archives contains an outstanding collection of material relating to PLA.

Big Bang Lab, is a leading cultural-social enterprise working across film, music and heritage, designing and delivering dynamic creative learning programmes. Leaders in the creative use of corporate archives, they connect companies and communities by linking CSR with Heritage.

Posted in Intergenerational shared wisdom | Leave a comment