MELISSA BLISS

workshops

I have many years experience of working with people in galleries and community settings to create high quality artworks using video, audio, photography, mapping and GPS. I have particular experience of working with young people, older people and intergenerational groups.

I have recent CRB checks and have received training in child and vulnerable adult protection, first aid at work, paediatric first aid, mental health first aid and manual handling.

2011

Recent workshops for Tate Britain, Chelsea Football Club senior fans group, the Wilton Estate (Hackney) and Sunberry Independent Living Service (Fulham).

Only Connect, National Portrait Gallery, London
A one day audio project making soundscapes of the Gallery.

Treasures on Your Doorstep, Hackney Museum, London
Working with Hackney primary school children to create work around local histories for the wider Mapping the Change project and exhibited in the Museum's Homerton Voices exhbition (February - May 2012).

Boho Scene, National Portrait Gallery, London
A three day workshop exploring portraiture using photography, video and audio alongside the exhibition Ida Kar, Bohemian Photographer 1908-1974.

2010

Nightwatch, Tate Britain, London
Project working with young people from St Andrews Club, Westminster. We used long exposure photography and video to explore light and dark in the streets between the Club and Tate Britain. The video was shown at Tate Britain's Millbank Movie Matinee event in December 2010. The project was made in partnership with FreqOUT! and Tate.

The Time of Your Life, London
Intergenerational video workshops with people over 50 and students from Burlington Danes Academy and Ealing, Hammersmith & West London College

A Sense of Place at Open Age Hub, London
An Arts Council England-funded project on behalf of FreqOUT! working with older people in Pimlico & Millbank at Open Age Hub to create digital work on the theme of "A Sense of Place"

Mobile Movies at FUSE, London
Making films on mobile phones at a one day youth arts festival for the Royal Parks on behalf of FreqOUT!

Community Mapping for Story of Stratford, London
I worked with Colegrave primary school to create a Funny Map. They photographed themselves around Stratford wearing masks they had made. They put the images onto a Google Map. This project was part of artist Helen Marshall's Story of Stratford project.

Generations Together at Hammersmith & Fulham Action on Disability, London
Intergenerational community mapping workshops on behalf of FreqOUT! using photography, video, audio, GPS and Google Maps.

Where is Maida Hill? for the Harrow Road Neighbourhood Partnership, London
A day-long community mapping workshop during a local history day

Interactivity community mapping, London
Community mapping workshops in Westminster SW1 and Lisson Grove NW8 using photography, video, audio, GPS and Google Maps

2009

Creative Media Bootcamp for the Roundhouse, London
Co-leader with filmmaker Adam Ryzman of intensive film making workshops with teenagers. The workshops ran alongside the iTunes Festival at the Roundhouse.

Mobile Movies for the Roundhouse, London
Workshops with teenagers making films on mobile phones.

2008

50 Pieces of Information for the National Portrait Gallery, London
A three day workshop exploring public and private portraits in the context of the coming national identity cards. We looked at images and data in passports, oyster cards and other forms of official portraits and in social media.

Mobile Portraits for Westminster Summer University, London
A series of one day workshops at the National Portrait Gallery using mobile phones to take photographs inspired by pictures in the galleries.

Signs of the City for Urban Dialogues, Berlin
Signs of the City was a European project with young people from Berlin, Barcelona, Sofia and London. I worked with homeless young men in central London to use mobile phones to take photographs of the city. The work can be seen at citipix.net.

2007

Oxford Street VIP Festival, London
On the busiest shopping day of the year, Oxford Street in central London was closed to traffic and a range of performances and acts lined the streets. I worked with FreqOUT!'s new Project Manager Jenny Irish and young people from the Cardinal Hume Centre to create instant mobile phone films of the day to Bluetooth to the crowd.

Mobile Shooting for BBC Blast, London, Bexhill, Bristol, Cambridge, Londonderry, Sheffield
A series of one day mobile phone video workshops around the country for the BBC’s creative program for 14-19 years. The films were shot and edited on mobile phones.

My Territory for the Hayward Gallery, London
An offsite project for the Hayward Gallery's Digital Dialogues season. I worked with young people in south London to shoot and edit films shot and edited on mobile phones. I worked with youth groups in Waterloo and Stockwell and young mothers in Brixton. Commissioned through FreqOUT!

Some of the films were later screened at the FILMOBILE exhibition in London and the Pocket Films Festival in Paris in a compilation INSTANT FILMS.

2006

Lyme Guide for Silicon Coast, Dorset
A teenager's audio guide to Lyme Regis presented on a website. This project was part of Silicon Coast and commissioned by PVA.

Visitors Studio for HTTP Gallery, London
Young people from Wood Green Youth Club, London jamming live with young people at the Q Arts centre in Derby. We used Furtherfield's Visitors Studio realtime internet jamming environment. The workshop was held alongside the Game/Play exhibition [HTTP/Q Arts].

Changing Lives for The Women's Library, London
Working with teenage girls from Highbury Fields School to make a video about the Suffragettes for The Women's Library, part of London Metropolitan University.

2005

CCTV is Watching Me for FreqOUT!, London
Creating a short film using Westminster Council's digital CCTV cameras, controlled by handheld computers, with teenagers from the Churchill Gardens Youth Club. Part of the FreqOUT! Westminster Wireless Festival 2005.

Victoria Voices for FreqOUT!, London
Creating a recorded audio walk of Victoria, central London, with residents of the Cardinal Hume Hostel, Westminster. Part of the FreqOUT! Westminster Wireless Festival 2005.

Mobile Reporting for the Norwich Gallery, Norwich
An off-site project with teenage girls in Great Yarmouth making videos on mobile phones. This workshop accompanied the exhibition of my mobile phone work In My Name at eastIntenational 2005 at the Norwich Gallery.

Filming on mobile phones for Watershed Media Centre, Bristol
A one day Lab as part of Up to Speed: the Potential of Broadband as a New Space for Research, Development and Production, a joint event by Arts Council England, the Arts and Humanities Research Council and Watershed Media Centre, Bristol.