A collaborative research project, with support from UWE Bristol, has been asked to exhibit at V&A Museum as part of the London Design Festival.
The SIM Project uses the SIM card as a platform to shape new ways of sharing and archiving stories of migration. A SIM card is many things. An international ID card held within our smartphones, a repository of personal data, and a tool for intimate connection. They have a symbolic meaning too. They provide a bridge to transnational, as well as local networks to give us a portable sense of belonging.
The project is inspired by conversation and craft with refugees and people who are seeking sanctuary. The growing mobile collection includes over 150 unique artefacts created at free workshops in 8 countries. Participants make a screenshot from the image archive on their phone, which is transferred onto a sim-scale glass model. In turn, metal frames are etched, polished and stamped with ID numbers of personal significance.
The wearable SIM artworks tell stories and ask questions about notions of home, identity and how people relate to each other through digital devices.
‘As an immigrant, I don’t really have roots, I have tendrils, which stretch to different places in the world where there are people I love’
Argentinian project artist, Cyprus, 2022
Frank Menger, Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer and Sofie Boons, Senior Lecturer, both from the Centre for Print Research at UWE Bristol, are collaborators on the project.
The project will also be shown at the Portland B-side Festival in September.