The Secret Life of Cumbria
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folly has commissioned creative technology agency Blink to allow members of the public to collectively write the story of “the Secret Life of Cumbria”, one text message at a time.
online and by SMS now!
folly project to uncover “the Secret Life of Cumbria”
folly has commissioned creative technology agency Blink to allow members of the public to collectively write the story of “the Secret Life of Cumbria”, one text message at a time. The new Secret Life of Cumbria project centres around what will become a year-long communal diary on the website www.secretlife.org.uk, written by each of the people who take part, using text messages or the website itself. Funded by Cumbria County Council to research into people’s attitudes to culture in the county, the Secret Life of Cumbria is at once an art project, a website, and a collective expression of the views, feelings, thoughts and memories of Cumbria’s residents and visitors.
People are learning about the project through questions placed in newspapers, on posters, and in the brochures of arts venues around the county, with each question seeking to elicit a response on a different subject. People then text or email their responses, keeping them - haiku-like - to less than 160 characters in length.
The aim of the project is to discover the kind of things people in Cumbria really care about, and it began in April at Tullie House in Carlisle by asking people what their favourite item of clothing is and why. Below are two of the responses so far:
"My pale blue Che Guevara t-shirt that I bought on Botchergate in 1969. The first t-shirt with a picture on in Carlisle.""I wore my beautiful blue sky butterfly dress to school on a non uniform day, but was forlorn at the early age of seven as another little girl had the same special dress on as me!"
Arts venues taking part in the project so far include the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal, Tullie House in Carlisle, the Kirkgate in Cockermouth and many smaller venues through the Highlights and Arts Out West rural touring schemes.
folly’s Chief Executive Taylor Nuttall said “We’re delighted to be working with Cumbria County Council on this ingenious research project that is firmly community-focussed and participatory. It is exciting to be working with Blink, who bring a wealth of expertise and experience in creative projects with mobile phone technologies.”
If you want to submit your own thoughts on what it’s like to go walking in the Lakes, clubbing in Carlisle or to watch a film in Workington, visit the website at www.secretlife.org.uk
In fact, it’s so easy to be part of the Secret Life of Cumbria that you can try it out right now by answering the question “What is your favourite place in Cumbria and why?”
Start a text with Cumbria then a space, then your thoughts (no more than 1 text long) and send it to 07786 202 994
It is a normal text number, so if you have free texts on your contract it’s free to use, if not, it only costs the same as sending a text to your friend’s phone. You will not be signed up for anything, ever.
To read what other people have written, just send Cumbria and nothing else to the same number or visit the website at www.secretlife.org.uk to discover the secrets of the whole county.
