John Jordan and James Marriott’s operatic audio tour set in London’s Square Mile is intended to awaken city workers to the impact of financial systems on climate change. But not only does And While London Burns misgauge how much the suits already know, its hysterical tone also harmonises too easily with the coming new eco-order

 

Image: activists cool off under a burst water mains during the Carnival Against Capital, June 1999

In cultural circles, the ‘locative media’ media meme seems this year to have reached its zenith. After a summer camp in Latvia focused on the phenomenon last year, and conferences far and wide featured snippets in their programmes, this year the ISEA2004 and Futuresonic festivals have pushed wireless worlds centre stage. Faced with as much uncritical gadgetphilia as abject info-paranoia – courtesy both, it sometimes seems, of these technologies’ military roots – how are curators to sensitively engage with the field? During April 2004, the email list of CRUMB, the Curatorial Resource for Upstart Media Bliss discussed just this. Beryl Graham compiled the results