I am happy to announce that I have been awarded The Studio Recovery Fund , for the sub-project UNLOCK to develop a service for the INTIMAL App© (by Ximena Alarcón, 2021), and test its usability and unlock narrative options by women in Bath, within the context of the pandemic lockdown. The mobile app will take them on "migratory journeys", helping them to explore a sense of place and a sense of presence, through their physical and emotional connections with local places, stimulating collective storytelling. The service explores alternatives to screen interfaces to feel embodied emotional telepresence. It aims to create local and distant connections by sensing rhythms, opening new paths and insights in people’s daily limited walks during and after the pandemic lockdown. I am very pleased to work on this project in collaboration with the Strategy and Service’s Designer Dr Liliana Rodríguez, and BSU's Creative Computing programmer Kieran Harte, to test the app's context, technological development and implementation, through a Co-design workshop with experts at The Studio, and with a User X workshop with nine women based in Bath.
The Studio Recovery Fund "aims to help freelancers, micro-businesses and third sector organisations in the BANES area". Six projects were selected over 30 businesses applications for creative technology projects that aim to promote renewal and support the region’s post-pandemic recovery efforts. This is an exciting opportunity for me to test the concepts of the INTIMAL project and expand these in the local space, and across distance locations and proximities. I look forward to listen to the stories that the project helps to emerge.
As a resident at The Studio I have been exploring how to make accessible different aspects of the INTIMAL system, developed between 2017-2019. In 2020 I started as a Resident, and received support from Bath Spa University and the Graduate Internships program, to work in a prototype of the app with the support of the programmer Ricardo Graça. With The Studio Recovery Fund Award, the app goes further, exploring collaborations, and testing it with local users.