Logbook 2011

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2011

description

Open Source Swan Pedalo Logbook 2011. This log book was produced as the result of a one-day book-sprint hosted at the Ranch Studio, Liverpool.

Transcript of Logbook 2011

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2011

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OPEN SOURCE SWAN PEDALO 2011 LOGBOOK

This log book was produced as the result of a one-day book-sprint hosted at the Ranch Studio, Liverpool.

Working on the booksprint have been (in order of appearance): Sam Meech, Rebecca Mulvaney, John O’Shea, Gabrielle Jenks via web, Neil Winterburn, Markus Soukup, Ross Dalziel via web, Tim Brunsden, Simon Derwent via email and Jacob Dalziel via email.

illustration by Jacob Dalziel

SWANPEDALO.ORG

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HOW A SWAN PEDALO CHANGED EVERYTHING

Its been an amazing year from looking at the ebay ad in Hull on John’s phone to being a proud host of the pedalo for our hackspace week at The Cooperative with Mercy and I was proud to share the van with SwanPedalo for Crazy Golf Hack in Barrow for FON Festival and always happy to provide nesting facilities when possible.

It has built a brilliant growing community of people and inspired my work & practice no end. Ive been learning about tracking with arduino, mapping from people like @mcknut and @amcewen because of it.

For me its a key and essential example of how a project can take the concept of ‘open source’ to the real world; its an open project that will use the cloud and communication tech like phones, sms and blogs and twitter but then the activity has to happen in the real world its about people interacting socially...

Makes me think of what was called by John Byrne at Terminal Convention as a truly ‘plausible art world’ rather than the elusive art market and as part of discussions here at #bar-campliv is maybe about reclaiming the ‘virtual’ from stupid films like the Lawnmower man, Second Life or numerous misinterpretations of cyberspace.

Maybe as soon as you think of something in the world dif-ferently and start to model it in your head or between the heads of others then its virtual. Its not just about goth vam-pire avatars (although that could be a swandelier costume style).

We imagined buying the swan online and modelled its open-ness in our heads and then its physicality (its bloody massive) caused a community to build round it. What can I say.. its been real. And the longer it goes on the more real it gets

and its really building… Re-Dock you really have started something.

Our Crazy Golf Hack is going to tour and SoundNetwork are supporting Simon Jones Bouncy Castle project next year for Open Source City and we’re developing a whole pro-gramme and artistic process based around ‘Fairground Tech as Development Platform’. We are hoping the Pedalo can be a key player in Open Source City the festival we are develop-ing for Summer 2012.

I don’t think any of this would have happened without the Open Source Swan Pedalo as a model.

Don’t just simulate! Hack reality! Open everything!

Heres to another year of re & mis-appropriating tech lan-guage for the public good.

@cheapjack ;)

5th Nov Jay Springett @thejaymoThe term ‘opensource’ removed the ethical discourse related to/around the free software movement. It reshaped conversation. #truthandbeauty

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A YEAR OF THE SWAN

When I think back to Grace’s conception, I have a mysterious Cornish businessman to thank for my involvement with Grace, if it wasn’t for him liberating (i hope) the other two of Grace’s cygnet siblings then I would have my very own (sad) swan pedalo. If Grace has taught me anything over the last year, its that this would have been the equivalent of putting a bird in a cage or in this case a swan out of water. Grace is a surprisingly social bird, has opened the doors for many a conversation, friendship and memories to last a life time.

A side of the world hidden in plain sight is the significance of swans in global culture, swan, schwan, zwaan, svan derived from the indo-european root swen meaning to sound of sing has graced all of the swandeliers. From Sam’s report on Lithuania cygnificance (don;t know if i like cygnificant - what you think?), to pubs, matches, menus, streets and all alliterations. The swan filter has open my eyes to the ubiquitous, esteemed status of the largest of the duck family and with each action become increasingly proud to be one of the custodians of such a revered bird. facts from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan

Dave Lynch

21 Mar Rosiebunny @rosiebunnyoh swan pedalo, you lovely big floating lump of fibreglass

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16 Nov Dougald Hine @dougaldMeet the @swanpedalo - “Premise: if we can’t even sustain aSwanPedalo, we’ve no business being involved in out else!”

ONE SWAN PEDALO 4-5 SEATER FULL SIZE

Above: Any bidders for this vessel? The Liverpool Biennial are selling off their unwanted items.

During November 2010 a naive group of artists and makers in Liverpool purchased a secondhand swan pedal boat for £100.

Between the group there existed no means of transporting the swan or storing it nor was there any nautical knowledge or even any ideas for what they might do with this fibreglass animal.

Despite a total absence of infrastructure, it was clear to the group that, as a self pro-pelled, waterborne vessel, the Swan Pedalo represented “potential” and “freedom” so, instead of worrying about the consequences they added the title “Open Source” and in doing so handed over any concerns to the whole community at large, deflecting the problem and changing the nature of this venture.

This is the story so far of the Open Source Swan Pedalo - a see where it goes project.

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8 Nov Swan Pedalo @swanpedaloOpen Source Swan Pedalo measurements: length 3m10 (10ft+) / width 1m 62 (5ft+) / height 1m80 (6ft+) #OSSP #pedalo

“WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO STORE IT?”

Above: John sits aboard the swan pedalo, who was locked in this container for over a year. She was se-verely malnourished and had trouble trusting people at first.

From our blog:

“When we say that we have a swan pedalo people’s eyes light up – they are delighted by the idea of such an elegant and leisurely vessel – however, sadly, this initial enthusiasm is almost immediately overcome by harsh and mundane practical matters and the first question which is often nervously asked is “where are you going to store it?

The answer to this question is that there is no master plan – this is a “see where it goes” project.

Our desire is that we are able to sustain the state of imaginative possibility which is presented in the idea of the Swan Pedalo. Can we keep the dream alive?

We are hoping to find the right individuals, groups and communities who might be able to temporarily ‘host’ the pedalo for short periods of perhaps a week or perhaps a month. We are not looking for ‘storage’ because we think that putting the Swan Pedalo into storage is akin to keeping an animal in a cage – and our Swan Pedalo is free range!

Could you be a host to the Open Source Swan Pedalo?”John O’Shea, 9 November 2010

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8 Nov Swan Pedalo @swanpedaloIt was time to leave the nest! RT @biennial: @swanpedalo good to see you’ve found a home. #OSSP #pedalo

MAIDEN VOYAGE

16th November

“Today’s the big day that our Swan Pedalo makes it’s maiden voyage from the Eldonian Village in North Liverpool to the Soundnetwork Hackspace at the Cooperative (former Rapid Paint Shop on Renshaw Street.) The Swan Pedalo will be there all throughout this week to stimulate peoples ideas and curios-ity and, in-keeping with our Open-Source credentials the Swan Pedalo will remain during the weekend when the Cooperative plays host to Howduino – Liverpool’s homegrown electronic tinker-athon!

The full dates for this Open Source Swan Pedalo residency are Tuesday 16th November to Sunday 21st of November and after that who knows where the Swan Pedalo will go next…Big thanks once again to the Sound Network, all at the Co-operative and the HOWDUINO folks for playing host to the Swan Pedalo this week.

Posted 16 November 2010 by John0

Above: stills from a film by Tim Brunsden, documenting the libreration of Swan Pedalo from the container, and her subsequent journey to her new, albeit temporary, home in The Co-operative / Hackspace on Renshaw St, Liverpool.

http://liverpoolstories.blogspot.com/2010/11/open-source-swan-pedalo.html

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16 Nov Swan Pedalo @swanpedaloMarkus, John and Neil are cleaning my feathers #swanpedalohttp://plixi.com/p/57269888

THE EAGLE HAS LANDED

Above: Swan Pedalo touches down inside the Cooperative Hackspace. A truly mov-ing moment. She has arrived! From left to right: Markus Soukup, John McKerrell, Neil Winterburn, Sam Meech, John O’Shea, Malcolm Robson.

16th November

“This wasn’t my first meeting - by chance, I had filmed our Swan Pedalo back in 2009 as part of some documentation of the Biennial Urbanism project in Bootle. I’m not sure how long she had been locked away and I thought she would be buried among lots of stuff, but as John pulled open the container doors, there she was, a ready and awaiting. It was a very symbolic moment.” - Tim Brunsden

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16 Nov Swan Pedalo @swanpedalo@florrie_anna & @Smeechuk Great idea! “Pedalo across the channel before it’s banned” http://tiny.cc/y1fs9 But I’m not being covered in lard.

IDEAS FOR A SWAN PEDALO

Above: ideas gathered from the Hackspace. It is very hard to have a small idea about a swan pedalo. She quickly captured peoples’ imaginations.

During the Swan Pedalo’s week at the Hackspace, people were invited to suggest ideas for modifying the swan and involving it in unusual creative activities.

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9 Feb Ross Dalziel @cheapjack1st rule of @swanpedalo club: don’t talk about... storing the swan, 2nd keep it active, 3rd rule: look after it #pedalopriciples

PEDALO PRINCIPLES

Four guiding principles which emerged to ensure good stew-ardship of the Open Source Swan Pedalo:

1. We are looking for HOST communities who can care for the pedalo for a fixed period of time. Our pedalo has spent enough time in captivity deprived of attention.

2. Our Swan Pedalo is free range and would really like to be integrated into your projects and ACTIVITIES.

3. RESPECT the swan. Inventions, modifications, pimping, pruning - all of these are encouraged but please don’t dam-age the swan for others.

4. There is no “master-plan” - this is a SEE WHERE IT GOES project.

30th November 2010

Above: Swan’s are noble creatures. They deserve respect.

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15 Nov 10 Neil Borg-Olivier @neilolivierFollow @swanpedalo for a heartwarming realtime story of swan pedalo and human coexistence. Awesome.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Very early on it made sense to set up a twitter account for our swan pedalo. Other social media and online tools were used also (blogs, forums, facebook) with varying degrees of success, but, from the start, twitter just seemed to make the most sense. Maybe this is because of the format and exclamatory nature of tweets - it is just funny if you are receiving advice and opinions which appear to be from a large fibreglass bird!

Part of the whole essence of this project so far has exploring the gaps and over-laps between online (virtual) experience and our tangible experiences of real-ity - and a suspicion that these two do not marry up as nicely as people claim eg: someone might well have 500 “friends” on Facebook but where are these “friends” when the same person needs a push with their car on a cold winters morning...

Twitter helped us to source support, such as a few hands to lift Grace into a van when needed, and even finding the van itself! It also gave us a channel to vent our frustrations and document our progress.

follow me @swanpedalo / www.swanpedalo.org

Above: Swan Pedalo’s twitter feed - she is a very sociable bird. People love it when she follows them. She really is the ‘Peoples’ Pedalo.’

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17 Nov Swan Pedalo @swanpedaloThe @soundnetwork Hackspace on Renshaw Street Liverpool opens to the public tomorrow - come see me - http://bit.ly/d7tz7c

THE CO-OPERATIVE RESIDENCY - HACK SPACE - SOUND NETWORK

16th November

On 16th November 2010 the Swan Pedalo was moved into the Soundnetwork Hackspace at the Cooperative (The Old Rapid Paint Shop on Renshaw Street). The Soundnetwork Hackspace provided a week of circuit-bending and technolo-gy-based play in the end of the Liverpool Biennial.

Ross Dalziel mentioned about the Hackspace week: “We at SoundNetwork tried to respond to the cooperative idea by opening the space to local emerging groups of artists and other practitioners interested in technology and I suppose social practice.. so hackers and technologists from Howduino and people from the HowWhyDIY! network and Open-SourceSwanPedalo community and the artists of Re-Dock.”

The swan was brought into the exhibition space and we installed light sensors, so that if people would sit in the front and start using the pedals, the LED’s installed at the eyes of the Swan would light up. The sensors would only function if the space around would be relatively dark.

On 18th November 2010 ‘Binary Jam 015’ happened in the basement of the Cooperative coinciding with the Swan Ped-alo being tested upstairs by the Longnight audience, where Sam Meech (Re-Dock) enabled visitors to create images to be projected on the Swan.

Markus Soukup

Top: Mal, John, Nathan and Sam aboard the pedalo.Left: Ross gives her a drink - he knows how to treat birds with respect.Right: The Co-opertive on Renshaw St, during Liverpool Biennial 2010.

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SKINNING THE SWAN - PEDALO PROJECTIONS - LIGHT NIGHT

18th November

“As part of the Long Night, I offered people the chance to ‘skin the swan’, by giving it a new look. Using just a projector, photoshop, and a Wacom tablet, people were able to project their illustrations and ideas onto the swan pedalo.” - Sam Meech

Above: projections on the pedalo.

Skeletons and fluorescents by Chris RodenhurstFire by Sam MeechSwan text feathers by Thom IsomMolecules by Neringa Plange

18 Nov Swan Pedalo @swanpedaloOoh he’s very proud! I think me and @thomisom are going to be friends. http://plixi.com/p/57690751

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24 Nov John McKerrell @mcknut:the @swanpedalo went on a little trip yesterday: hibernating for a while near Princes Park http://mapme.at/where/swanpedalo

WINTER HIBERNATION

23rd November

At this stage things were not boding well for our swan: Despite spending a lot of energy researching potential homes, and also demonstrating the obvious potential of the swan for generating new and interesting ideas, the Cooperative Hackspace residency came to an end and we still had not managed to find a watery home for the swan during 2010...

We decided that the only sensible course of action for this swan, at this stage of the year was hibernation. Luck-ily we were offered the use of a garage space by a neighbour of Sam’s for free for the time-being!

Above: Swan Pedalo finds a home for the winter - the garage under Sam’s flat. Helping her reach her safe hibernation are Neil Winterburn, Andy McGov-ern, Malcolm Robson (van man) John O’Shea, Tim Brunsden, Sam Meech.

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8 Feb Christina McDermott @MissCayRESPECT THE SWAN. Swan Pedalos are ace! #igniteliv

IGNITE PRESENTATION

8th February

At the beginning of the 2011 it became important to introduce the wider public to the idea of the Open Source Swan Pedalo and, hopefully, this bigger circle of people could help to identify a way to (a) get the swan onto some water! and (b) take some of the really good ideas which had already been identified and make them a reality.

It was at the Ignite event in Liverpool where the “Society of Swandeliers” was launched as a kind of informal local meet up for getting involved with all things swan-related.

ABOVE: John at Ignite Liverpool - Tuesday 8th February 2011.

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4 Jul Swan Pedalo @swanpedaloSociety of Swandeliers meet-up #2 this Thursday, 8.30pm at Static / agenda here: http://bit.ly/mzheuh

SOCIETY OF SWANDELIERS

========== “Society of Swandeliers” ==========

As promised - a one-off Open Source Swan Pedalo meet-up is confirmed for Wednes-day 9th February at 7pm (as part of Liverpool’s week of Social Media festivities) and the gathering will be taking place at The Ranch Studio on Victoria Street in Liverpool City Centre - L1 6DE.

The aim of this meet-up will be to HAVE FUN! generate & consolidate ideas and plan for future Swan Pedalo adventures.

As mentioned previously - if people are coming from out of town we’ll try and make arrangements to put you up - we have a couple of people confirmed from Leeds already...

We are going to gather together all of the current opportunities and suggested projects (many of which were generated during the Swan’s short residency in the Cooperative Space during Liverpool Biennial) and develop a strategy for making some of this stuff happen over the course of 2011.

All input prior to the meet is greatly welcomed - over email, via @swanpedalo on twitter, Swan Pedalo facebook page and the Open Source Swan Pedalo blog (includ-ing potential hosts, mechanical advice, new projects etc.) - we’ll present all of this stuff for everyone to consider on the evening and a there will be a lovely spread of snacks and beverages for those who can attend - we might even get some foie gras! (NOT!)

Above: The Society of Swandeliers engage in some blue-swan thinking and problem solving.

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13 May Thundercock @fatherwolandLook. I don’t care about tides and shit. The @swanpedalo crosses the Mersey next Saturday. FFS. Jeez Louise.

IMPOSSIBLE TO POSSIBLE

9th February

During the “Society of Swandeliers” meet-up, after some initial introduc-tions of some fantastic new people, we discussed a timetable of events which were scheduled to happen over the course of 2011 with which the Swan Pedalo could potentially be involved.

After this discussion the assembled group were invited to write down ideas which were positioned on a washing line operating on a scale from “impos-sible” on the left towards “possible” on the right. The aim from there was to add components to each of the ideas and in this way make them each more “possible”. This full range of ideas were intended to act as starting points for potential Swan Pedalo projects and were shared online in the open source spirit.

Above: The famous ‘washing line of possibility’, up in the Ranch.

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12 Apr Sam Meech @SmeechukWe need 4 strong volunteers to hep move the @swanpedalo this Sat morning! Her maiden voyage!

LAUNCH

16th April

On the Saturday the 16th of April, Grace finally came out of hibernation. We took her from Andy’s garage in Aigburth, into Salthouse and then Dukes dock, near the Albert Dock in Liverpool.

Here is the itinerary of the morning.:

Pick up : 9.00amAndy’s garage in Aigburth, at 9.00am, we were glad to see she was looking well.

Salthouse Dock: 9.30amt’s a lovely sunny day, we’re all set.

Security Guard: 9.32amWe were welcomed at the dock by the security guard. We see him everywhere, like Smith from the Matrix. You again!He cleared with his boss and we were ready to go.

Splash down: 9.40amOn a sunny day, seeing water refract light near the surface, above the deep and murky waters below, the Docks can take on the appearance of a sacred space. It could be another dimension for all us land lovers know.Splashdown!“That’s really our Swan in the dock! …...Joyful”

The welcome procession : 9.50amA small group of us welcomed the Swan to the WOWBALLS end of the Dock, with a drumroll, applause and some fizzy wine.

“Happy days and thanks to all who assisted in swan activities.” Simon Derwent

Simon Derwent (proprietor of Wowballs UK) is our man down at Queens Dock. Simon was instrumental in getting clearance for the launch at the Albert Dock and has given unwavering commitment to maintainance, care and storage of the vessel. It was Simon’s suggestion that the Open Source Swan Pedalo be named “Grace” since she resides in view of Liverpool’s world famous “3 Graces”.

Above: 5 months after her liberation, Swan Pedalo is finally launched on water. John takes the first ride with Simon from Wowballs, and then christens her with some cheap booze.

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19 Apr Gavin Whitfield @gavskiUK@hotclubdeparis you don’t know what the @swanpedalo is?! for shame, it could reach cult status. My band did a couple of songs, good fun!

SWAN SONGS

16th April

We wanted to test out the Swan as a platform for performing music so the first “Swan Songs” took place on Duke’s dock on a sunny Saturday in April.

We were still pretty buzzing from the launch earlier on in the morning, so our approach on the afternoon was to just dive into it. We had invited 4 acts and we only had an hour and a half in which to get the performances filmed, so we de-cided to be pretty strict, giving each act just 15 minutes to perform on the Swan.

Greedy Jesus was up first, bellowing out rootsy acoustic shanties, lazily strum-ming like he had pedaled in from a dirty swamp somewhere in the deep south of America. Greedy was totally in his element, no need of amplification here, the crowd were baked by the sun and enveloped in his vocals as they bounced off the dock walls. He lived up to his name taking about half an hour before he pedaled his way back in.

Next we had Alex Germains of Mountaineers fame. Alex brought his two sons Joe & Axel onboard with him as he created some boss tunes using a mixture of apps on his i-phone and a miniature keyboard.

Next, The Guillotines brought songs of yearning and intensity, delivering a very honest performance.

By the time we got on the Swan we had 10 minutes to perform 2 songs, in hind-sight I think this rush led to us making some really unfair seating choices. To give space for Arek to film (which he did brilliantly) , Chiz (Guitair) & I (Drums) sat at the back of the Swan. All Sofie had to do was sing, pedal and steer! It’s a good job she ignored my request to bring her cello! By the end of the first verse of ‘Fire Moving Slowly’ we had done 4 donuts & bounced off the dock wall. We did get a take and it was o.k., not our greatest performance, but it was a sunny day & we were performing to a load of people whilst on a Swan. I really hope I get the chance to do it again one day.

Neil Winterburn

Above: bands on the swan. From top: Greedy Jesus, Alex Germain, Guillotines, Elfin Spurs.

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24 Jun Fran @catnamedeaster@swanpedalo Is it you who’ll be at Leeds Waterfront Festival tomorrow, or a different swan pedalo? :-)

JOURNEY TO LEEDS GRANARY WHARF

24th June

“The swan was loaded successfully in the van an spent the night back at Wowballs HQ in New Brighton, then a manic dash in the morning fully loaded with swan 8 wowballs, inflatable tubes, docking and inflatable pool and 6 staff through Liverpool at 8am to get to Nantwich for 9.15 to drop 3 staff pool and balls off for a summer fate. Then off to Leeds in an even more of a rush, (that was officially the fastest swan pedalo 90mph and the highest 372m above sea level) to arrive in Leeds not too late. Good to see Dave and the guys and a very quick and successful launch.”

Simon Derwent

25th June

Swan safely landed! With video, will edit later today hopefully!

Going to have all art events tomorrow me thinks, keep it chilled for today!

Weather looks like it’s going to pick up tho!

Dave lynch-------------------------------Sent on the move.Davelynch.net

Swan Moves: add a name below.

Swan loading Liverpool on Friday 24th June Time: ~6:30pm

1. Simon Derwent2. John McKerrell3. Paul Freeman4. Frances (Fish)5. Rosie6. Ruth Who

Swan unloading Leeds on Saturday 25th June (morning) Time: TBC (Simon)

1. Simon Derwent2. Dave Lynch3. Mick Martin4. Eion Shea5. Lewis Sleeman6. Minnie and Nancie

Swan loading Leeds on Sunday 26th June (afternoon / evening) Time: TBC (Simon)

1. Simon Derwent2. Dave Lynch3. Rob Sharples4. Stephen Emmerson5. Chris Stephenson6. Minnie and Nancie

Swan unloading Liverpool on Monday 27th June (morning) Time: ~9:20am

1. Simon Derwent2. John O’Shea3. Paul Freeman4. John McKerrell5.6.

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8 Jul 11 Tim Brunsden @mrjonesyThe Owls are Not What They Seem. Beautiful Open Source @swan-pedalo video from Dave Lynch vimeo.com/26011940

LEEDS SWAN SONGS

25th June

On the 25th of June 2011 the Leeds Owls took custody of Grace from Simon Wowballs and took the Swan songs format up another notch. The performance by Samuel Foxton Welles, captured on film by Dave Lynch is light, breezy and just more Swan like.

clockwise from above left: Samuel Foxton-Welles;The Cynics; Slimpro6 & the Bobbetts.

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FULL OF NOISES FESTIVAL - BARROW

Above: the poster for FON - some great acts on the bill. And a lovely bill amongst the acts!

As part of the Full Of Noises Festival 2011 (FON), artists John O’Shea (Re-Dock) and Dave Lynch will be turning a swan pedalo into a radio station, and broadcasting throughout Barrow Park.

Within our programme will be Station View Songs (classic vinyl selected by residents of Station View residential home), interviews and sets by international sound artists, discussions and debates about the hidden gems of the Barrow art scene, ominous audio interventions and the chance for local per-formers, brass bands, and amateur operatists to jump aboard and broadcast out into Barrow Park!

www.fonfestival.orgwww.re-dock.orgwww.swanpedalo.org

1 Jul John O’Shea @fresh_squeezedFOLLOW FRIDAY @fullofnoises 5th/6th Aug festival of fun and frolics in Barrow featuring @swanpedalo and @soundnetwor ...

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TECHNICAL CHALLENGE (How do we set up a ‘special frequency’ radio station on a swan pedalo?)

Left: John and Dave set to work trying to figure out how to make this pirate radio station swan pedalo actually work. The task powering an FM transmitter and DJ system whilst on water was more challenging and time-consuming than either of them imagined...

4 Jul Swan Pedalo @swanpedaloDid you know that I’m going to have my own radio station? Swan Broadcasts will be airing live from Barrow Park tomorrow morning.

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STATION VIEW RESIDENTIAL HOME - STATION VIEW SONGS

Above: residents listen to a few vinyls on the record player and make notes on what songs they would like to broadcast from our pirate vessel as part of FON.

8th July

On Friday 8th of July, Dave Lynch and John O’Shea made a trip to Barrow-in-Furness and spent the afternoon listen-ing to records with residents of Station View Residential Home so that a set of tracks could be decided on to be played throughout the two days under the title “Station View Songs”.

8 July Swan Pedalo @swanpedaloI now know my FM wings and words will spread all over barrow park for #swanbroadcasts @fullofnoises festival on 5/6 aug. Fonfestival.org

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STATION VIEW SONGS

Above: the selections reveal some discening tastes amongst the residents of Station View. Cliff Richard?

A selection of the artists whose records were selected by residents of Station View residential home to be part of “Station View Songs” the first show we did on Friday morning as part of FON Festival. The first track we played was, of course, Glenn Miller’s “In the Mood” (by the inimitable Joe Loss...)

29 Dec davelynch @davelynch@swanpedalo 32.45 mins: transmission - stationview songs [quite evident both myself & @fresh_squeezed r suffering from se vere lack of sleep]

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2 Aug 11 Sam Meech @Smeechuk“you know my mum didn’t actually want my dad to get a @swanpedalo” - @cheapjack’s lad spills the beans

MAINTENANCE DAY

Above: Ross’s lad Jacob rides the white swan in search of future horizons

2nd August 2011

“Hi folksI’ve booked our van man (Michael) so he’ll be at the Albert Dock at 9.45am next Tuesday morning -

We’d hope to have a team down there to do the load and then drive up to do the unload at Static too. (see below sign up list)

By the way - we’re also hoping to produce some “Society of Swan-delier” badges on Tuesday for all our swan lifters/performers/hosts and modifiers - first edition of 100.

9.45am Tuesday 2nd - Swan Load / Unload for Swan Mainte-nance Day

1. John O2. Neil3. Sam4. Ruth5. Simon6. Tim B

“repair / decorate / develop / document”

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“FRIENDS OF THE SWAN” - BADGES

Above: “Friends of the Swan” badges were produced in an edition of 100 to be presented to each person who had aided the swan. Despite the seeming simplicity of this transaction, we very quickly we ran into difficulties administrat-ing these and we now have a backlog of people waiting for their badge and an incomplete spreadsheet....

If you feel you deserve a “Friend of the Swan” badge - get in touch via twitter and we’ll make sure you get one eventually!

4 Aug Swan Pedalo @swanpedalo There are only one hundred badges in existence. If you’ve ever given me a hand then you can claim a badge! http://twitpic.com/60um33

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AT BARROW PARK

4 Aug Playmapmap @playmapmap@cheapjack @swanpedalo @freshsqueezed All the best for FON this weekend

From top: John O’Shea and Dave Lynch deliver the first ever Swan Pedalo Broadcast, Dave interviews legendary turntablist Philip Jeck before his perfor-mance, Mayor of Barrow John Murphy with Andrew Deacon of Octopus Collective (before their conver-sation about the history of Barrow Park.)

Right: Evening Mail article by Molly Lynch who also made a trip on the swan.

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PRIMITIVE SYSTEMS

5th August

For Swan broadcasts we modified Grace so she was fit for transmission of up to half a mile. This would cover the entirety of Barrow park and in keeping with the ethos of ‘see where it goes project’ we stumbled upon a free frequency of 103.9FM given to us by XXXX who worked as part of the park maintenance team, and we were off. Well almost, after a grueling 48 hours of problem solving with the culprit being the battery charger we were starting the first ever Swan broadcast with a little over 2 hours sleep. The results can be heard in more ways than one!

“its really hard to start a record on a boat, its a underestimated skill, for all you DJs out there, you havent really DJed till you’ve DJed on a swan pedalo” John O’Shea

The broadcasts achieved two important aspects for Grace’s legacy whilst in the creation of the swan broadcasts. These were the audio calling card and onboard rules, the real-ity of this created a sense of relaxation in the guests and a great way to begin the days broadcasts. With so many great memories from the festival, it’s hard to single anything out but one in particular that resonates was the gift of a hand made radio transmitter to Grace by artist and philosopher Tetsuo Kogawa. It was following a improvised performance whereby Tetsuo, Grace and the radio equipment created a sonic intervention.

‘I think the system is quite primitive in a sense, but radical primi-tive, i find that things that are so primitive could have a lot of usability to get round to new things, new work, new style of art’ Tetsuo Kogawa

Left: the primitive systemAbove: John, Tetsuo, Dave, Grace

25 March davelynch@swanpedalo - the open source 6ft high swan with big heart!

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AT BARROW PARK

10 Aug John O’Shea @fresh_squeezedI wish I could return to this moment, on a lake with artist Ryoko Akama, broadcasting origami instructions: http://flic.kr/p/abqbjr

Clockwise from above: original sketch of radio transmitter, origami on the radio with Ryoko Akama, Dave and John working late into night, John Hall early morning with BBC Radio Cumbria, blackboard schedule, Helen Wall and Bob Dickinson discuss the Barrow art scene, Tetsuo Kogawa and the radical potential of free radio, Last performance is Slim Pro 6 and the Bobbettes.

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3 Aug Ruth Who @UnregulatedMDvery nice! RT @fresh_squeezed Here’s some @swanpedalo postcards becky made with @smeechuk http://bit.ly/rbyOUt

SWAN POSTCARDS

Above: two of the gorgeous cut-out postcards made by Sam and Becky dur-

ing her internship with Re-Dock. Someone sees a pedalo on Barrow Park lake and fails to notice the giant aerial stuck on the back of it. They stand around patiently for it to dock before asking “How much for me and the kids?”.

At this point you hand the person a postcard, a flyer, a miniature origami swan (some-thing physical) and explain the idea of an ‘open source’ project. They might not see the point or maybe they won’t think about it until after they’ve walked away, but at least you’ve had a chance to start a conversation. The swan pedalo postcards were a great way of capturing the public’s attention and imagination.

Rebecca Mulvaney

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21 Jun Swan Pedalo @swanpedalolooks like I’m going to be doing some *ahem* swanning around this Summer...

MISSED OPPORTUNITIES?T4 ON THE BEACH

Hi Sam, Tim, Neil and John,

I am part of the production team working on T4 On The Beach based in Weston-Super-Mare. We are interested in hosting your Swan Pedalo on the 9th and 10th of July for the event. Could you please contact me on or e-mail me back on here to let me know if this would be possible. Looking forward to your reply.

Many Thanks,

Julien

Screenshots from broadcast of T4 on the Beach - Sunday 10th July 2011.

On the telephone, one of the show’s producers spoke of his vision for the presenter leaving the stage and climbing onboard a swan pedalo then pedalling out towards a waiting aircraft!

It soon became apparent that the shows organi-sors weren’t prepared to get involved in the nitty-gritty of organising the logistics and opera-tions themselves - they weren’t looking for an Open Source Swan Pedalo at all - they wanted a “Swan 4 Hire”.

Had T4 followed the Pedalo Principles, the pre-senter could indeed have climbed aboard Grace and pedalled away! Instead, this was one of many “publicity opportunities” in which our Swan Pedalo was happy not to participate.

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13th Oct Sam Meech @SmeechukCheck out BBC Leeds - they can’t get enough of @swanpedalotwitpic.com/6znlzb

LIVERPOOL TO LEEDS? - BBC SPORT RELIEF RECCY

above: the presenters of BBC Radio Leeds get the nervous giggles upon meeting Grace, and realising what they have got themselves into.

13th October

Perhaps the most ambitious outing for swan pedalo lies ahead - the mythical 127 mile journey along the Leeds - Liverpool Canal. Only a madman would dare attempt such an epic task, but thankfully the BBC is full of them. They con-tacted us in about taking Grace across the Pennies in 2012.

Alison Shaw and the team at BBC Radio Leeds came over to meet Grace and talk about the logistics involved. in making such a trip. The aim is that Grace makes the 127 mile trip over 8 days in March 2012, in order to raise money for Sport Relief. This will be preceeded in January by a trip to Leeds to launch the campaign and give Grace a bit of an MOT.

The only question was - how fast can a Swan Pedalo travel?

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31 Oct Swan Pedalo @swanpedalo@gregorymarler you’re a great one for mapping! We did a speed test on Sunday - 36 mins to pedal 1 mile ;-)

ONE MILE SPEED TEST

above: Mark and Sam set steady pace, googlemap tracks their progress, and Sam feels the burn.

29th October

In order to help the BBC Radio Leeds team accurately plan out their journey, it was necessary to gauge how fast the swan travelled. 127 miles is a long way, and a slight miscalculation in the swan’s average speed could see the team ar-riving days late. The only way to work this out properly was to take Grace on her first ever mile.

Using Googlemaps to plan a route (down to the nearest foot), Sam and Mark took Grace from the Duke’s Dock, through the Wapping Dock and down to the Leo Casio in Queen’s Dock. Then, performing a180° hand-brake turn, they headed back to start-ing point in Duke’s Dock.

Narrowly avoiding the Duck Bus, the university rowing teams and the odd canoist, Mark and Sam completed the mile in 36 mins.

1 mile / 36 mins = 1.66 mph

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BOOK SPRINT

Above: John and Tim busy writing in the RanchLeft: Pages hanging out to dry on the washnig lineRight: Always plan your project on a whitebaord.

18th November

As we reached the 1st annivesary since liberating the Swan Pedalo, John felt it was time to take stock of all that we had achieved in the year. So, he organised a Book Sprint - a day long event in which we would create our first Swan Pedalo log book.

Google docs were setup, a twit-ter call out made, and the office was transformed into, well, an office. The computers were put closer together anyway, which made it feel a bit more like a group event. People dropped by to do a bit of writing or edit pictures or select tweets, and some people sent in stuff via email.

In the end, well there was no end, but we broke it’s back at least. There were still a few things to come in the calen-dar year, and a couple more pages to add, but for now, this had been a great way to get everything in one place.

18 Nov John O’Shea @fresh_squeezedmyself, @smeechuk and @bexmulvaney early birds (11am) for #swan-year #booksprint (it’soneyear since @swanpedalo started)

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SWAN THEFT

(We were unable to obtain the cctv images from the Albert Dock security personnel.)

21st November

Hi I Just recieved this email below I have asked for some more info and I will be over next few days to check out nand re secure.

Simon

Albert Dock Security have informed that your Swan Pedalo was being pedalled around Dukes dock over the weekend. Apparently the culprits broke the chains in order to be able to use the pedalo. Merseyside Police attended, and security have an incident report and CCTV footage. Security are happy to assist and provide the report, if you require. They are con-tactable on 0151 707 8384RegardsAndy (bww)

I will keep you posted when i hear more. Any ideas when you want to move her back to sams?

Thanks Simon

21st Nov Wowballs @wowballsUK@swanpedalo you do have adventures when left alone for too long dont you!! #cctv to follow

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ALONG THE M62

Above: Dave and friends at Temple Works take over the reigns as ‘Guadians of the Swan’Left: canny use of the tail lift in order to get Grace into the van.Right: the beautiful porcelain swan found in a charity shop in Leeds that day

21st December

Christmas was very nearly upon us and Swan Pedalo suddenly found herself homeless. Following the ‘joyriding inci-dent’, British Waterways were grum-bling about Grace living at the Duke’s Dock. We had to move her quickly.

Since she was going to be headed to Temple Works anyway in the New Year, it was felt we should simply transport her over the Pennines a little earlier than planned. Another early morning swan lift saw her packed safely in the Luton van for her journey along the M62 to Leeds.

Once in Leeds I had a few hours to kill, so me and Hannah went mooching round chairty shops. We found a lovely little porcelain swan for £2. I was very taken with it.

Later on, Dave Lynch and friends helped to unload Grace and make her welcome at Temple Works. She had arrived safely. Then I remembered by charity shop bargain. Excitedly I opened the door of the van, only for the porcelain swan to fall out onto the car park floor and smash into a billion pieces. Was this to be a harbinger for Swan Pedalo?

We drove back to Liverpool in silence, still shocked and saddened by the inci-dent. That night, we patiently glued her back together. Not quite the same, but still beautiful.

21 Dec Sam Meech @SmeechukGot the @swanpedalo down the m62 to Leeds. Found this cute thing in a charity shop In city centre http://t.co/w3ZemsHe

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OPEN SOURCE SWAN PEDALO

The Open Source Swan Pedalo is a “see where it goes project”...

We are not looking for storage space: we are seeking individuals, organisations and communities with creative ideas and the will to make them happen!

Could you host the Open Source Swan Pedalo?

SWANPEDALO.ORG

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2011