Welcome to Tantalum Exploration

The Tantalum Project is the umbrella title for an expansive series of ongoing productions including a social telephony event and a series of abstract art installations taking place all over the globe. Set to run into January 2009, there will be further installations, a variety of workshops, a radio discussion, dinner events and a book publication. My initial involvement with the project began with me accepting a role as project coordinator which I was to combine with my postgraduate studies in Interactive Media at Goldsmiths College in London in the UK. The complexities of this role have resulted in the production of the pages you are reading now.

This site therefore serves a dual purpose. The first is to document this network of events. It has been my privilige to be party to every stage of the various productions from coneptual design through budgeting to software design and the install builds. This has allowed me to record the minutae of the building blocks of the entire project and produce a live archive detailing the shifting complexities of such an ambitious undertaking.

The second intention behind these pages has been realised throught the unique vantage point gained from my role as an 'information hub'. This has allowed me to step outside the network to critically explore and disassemble the mechanics behind The Tantalum Project. By disassemble, I mean in terms of being able to dissect the manifold aspects of the processes involved and explore them in greater detail from the point of view of many of the individuals involved (I have found that the interview format has been the most useful tool for realising this objective). Most vitally, Tantalum Explortaion has been prepared to demonstrate a particular conceptual concern known as assemblage theory and this is reflected both in the structure of the documentation and in my own critical writings. The Tantalum Exploration section will hopefully clarify the meanings and ideas behind this terminology so this need not concern the reader at first.

The best way to navigate through the site is to follow the links above (located below the image) in order from left to right. Telephone Trottoire is the foundation for the entire Tantalum Project as well as being an individual event by itself. Tantalm Memorial details the various abstract installations that are currently taking place as well as those to come. Tantalum Exploration is specifically centred around my own concerns and is therefore the least 'neutral' part of the site. The Blog link will take you to a slightly differnt site which i am using for immediate news, updates and ideas before they are built into the main location.

Finally, as i have already noted, this is a live archive of a work in progress so this site will be continually expanding as more events take place and new ideas and thoughts come to light.

I hope you enjoy your visit and should you wish to contact me with questions, suggestions or comments you are very welcome to email me at jonathanpfletcher@gmail.com.