SUPERGESTURES is a participatory project co-created with young people across Manchester, UK which explores the relationship between a smart city agenda and the impact it has on people’s everyday lives using wearable technology.
Exhibited at: Future Session 2018, FutureFest 2018, Revo Manchester 2018, Wellcome Trust, Making Fashion Sense Exhibition in HeK
Is the smart city of the future a smart city for our next generation? All too often it is young people that are excluded from decisions about the future, even though they are the ones that will have to live with the consequences for the longest.
Commissioned by UK’s first smart city demonstrator, CityVerve, the project uses wearables to help question how much tangible impact smart city technology can have on future generations. The co-creation work culminated in a large-scale outdoor multimedia performance through which people expressed their relationship to the city and their visions for the future with body gestures performed using wearable technology.
Over a period of 6 months, a series of workshops were hosted with over 50 young people aged 15-25 years old from across Manchester. During the workshops, they gathered to co-create SUPERGESTURES – collective actions, postures and gestures performed with a wearable power suit laced with technology, including body gesture sensors, vibration actuators, LEDs and audio feedback.
Coordinated through social media (Facebook and Instagram) as well as local community groups such as The Proud Trust (the only LGBT purpose-built centre in Europe), The Hideaway, (the oldest youth group in Manchester), and students from Manchester School of Architecture, the young people recorded and shared stories of freedom, pride, technology and ownership while laying out their visions for Manchester’s future.
In each workshop, participants each recorded a short audio story that spoke about their relationship with technology, their concern about Manchester and their vision for the future. And together, they collectively designed a set of body gestures that embodied their messages. These stories were then “placed” in key locations in the city by the participants, forming the walking route for the main outdoor performance.
Use the digital platform below to interact with and hear all the stories recorded by the young participants. Their stories are categorised into 7 areas of interest dispersed across different locations in central Manchester. The areas are “Environment”, “Infrastructure”, “Transport”, “Culture”, “Social Care”, “Education and Safety” – similar in language used by local authorities and technology companies.
Later, in a dramatic public spectacle on 10th March, another group of 30 members of the public each wore a SUPERGESTURES power suit, lit up with animated LEDs and triggered by a high tech sensor system, to listen to, ‘embody’ and perform all the co-created stories, visions, and gestures at key locations around Manchester. The hour-long semi-choreographed interactive walking performance was designed to lead people across several different neighbourhoods and immerse them in a future envisaged by the young people of the city, who will be most affected by current policy and technology decisions.
Special thanks to:
All the participants who took part in the workshops and performance
Hideaway Youth Project
The Proud Trust
Manchester School of Architecture
Creative Experts at Contact
Filmmaker Nurri Kim
FutureEverything FAULT LINES
Umbrellium
Producer Jackie Jones
Music composer uah
Advisor Andrew Chetty
Choreographer Ruth Jones
Choreographer’s supports Abbi Henderson, Chloe Morrison and Rowena Fordes
Photographer Robin Hill
SUPERGESTURES is created by Ling Tan. Commissioned by CityVerve in partnership with FutureEverything. Supported by with public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
