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Contribution short abstract:

Artist and anthropologist Liz Hingley discusses the experience of co-production on The SIM Project. To consider how processes of mutual making might illuminate the ways that digital photography and smartphone SIM cards connect people, and foster belonging for those who have experienced displacement.

Contribution long abstract:

The SIM Project (www.thesimproject.com) combines artistic and curatorial practice, co-design and academic research to explore the relationship between smartphone SIM cards, migration and belonging. Liz Hingley shares the challenges and successes encountered in developing the project methodology during her artist residency within the Department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London, in collaboration with Dr Zeena Feldman (2021-22).

The project is shaped by conversations with refugees and others affected by displacement. From these exchanges, smartphone SIM cards emerged as key objects of connection for unlocking transnational as well as local networks, user agency and imagined futures. In this project the SIM card is thus seen as a precious and evolving portrait of intimate relationships – a symbol of ‘home’ and a practical tool for community making.

This presentation will discuss the experimentation and learning required to refine the interactive workshop technique. During the workshops invited participants map the ways SIM cards foster their identities and sense of belonging across time and geography. Participants also share a personal 'screenshot with a story’, which they use to create unique SIM-scale artworks in a process combining early 19th century photographic methods, digital screenshots, QR codes and silversmithing.

The SIM Project has now run 17 workshops in five countries, and is part of the Testing Ground exhibition at the Science Gallery London (September 2022–January 2023). Materials generated from these activities will be shown to inform the future plans for the project, which aim to make it more interactive, generative and sustainable.