1831 Riot!
Based on the Reform Riots in Bristol, UK
Written, produced and directed by Liz Crow and Ralph Hoyte
Audio installation using wireless satellite technology
2004
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"the first ever located radio play, designed to unfold as you walk around Queen Square"
(Guardian 25 March 2004)
"If you think history and technology don't mix, this might just change your mind."
(BBC Points West)
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It's 1831 and there's a riot going on! Bristol is a tinderbox. The spark is Sir Charles Wetherell, widely loathed for portraying the city as anti-Reform, and come to open the Assizes. The people are rising up and thousands have filled Queen Square to demand the vote. Faced with civil disruption and carnage, Mayor Charles Pinney and the commanding officer, Colonel Thomas Brereton, are at a loss for how to act. Each waits on the other to be decisive. All the while, the riot is escalating.
1831 Riot! is an audio installation, a world-first voice-play for mobile computer technology. Each scene is written for a specific location within Queen Square. As visitors move around the square with a GPS-connected mobile computer and headphones they access one of the multiple scenes allocated to that location. In this way they become immersed in the riots in the very place were they took place more than 170 years before.
1831 Riot! has been commissioned as one of the flagship projects of Mobile Bristol, an ongoing research project run jointly by Hewlett Packard Laboratories and University of Bristol to push the creative boundaries of mobile computer technology and to test users' responses. These experimental experiences are now being moved out of the laboratory and into the streets. Mobile Bristol has commissioned a number of artists' projects as part of this process.
As part of Mobile Bristol, 1831 Riot! is a finalist in the Computing Awards for Excellence 2004
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The Technology behind Riot!
Using GPS (Global Positioning System) and an electronic graded grid of Queen Square, it is possible to plot individual sound samples as .mp3 files on a mobile computer and a server located nearby.
By picking up a visitor's position on the grid, the different .mp3 files are triggered and relayed through headphones. The route they choose determines the order of files heard, so that visitors 'mix' their own experience. Programmable logic adds another layer of variety and complexity to the ways that files are delivered.
In response to the technology, a non-linear script form has been devised, with over 150 separate script files written and recorded for specific locations throughout the Square. These files are capable of relating to each other in any order or combination so that every visitor's experience makes sense whatever route they take.
Field trials
Field trials took place in Queen Square in April 2004. Over a period of three weeks, members of the public tried out the combined technology and content and fed back into Mobile Bristol's research programme.
Educational applications
During the field trials, Liz Crow and Ralph Hoyte worked with teachers and children from two local primary schools in a pilot study to develop 1831 Riot! as a continuing learning resource.
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Sound designer |
Armin Elsaesser |
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Cast |
Chris McCalphy, Tim Prior, Ben Tinniswood, Peter Townsend, Leona Walker, Christine West |
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Musicians |
Stefan Hoyte, Simon Toomer |
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Project originator |
Ralph Hoyte |
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Mobile Bristol Team |
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Project Manager |
Jo Reid |
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Software Architect |
Richard Hull |
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Authoring Tools |
Ben Clayton |
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Logic Implementation |
Kirsten Cater |
Supported by DTI, Mobile Bristol, HP Labs, University of Bristol Computing Department, Appliance Studio, Yucca Media