I'm back in the real world after doing my third EMF, second as team lead for Art & Installations. Before EMF I was encouraged to start a new blog by friends but, of course, ended up way too busy organising EMF to actually write anything. So it seemed appropriate that my first post should be about that.

I'm still incredibly tired and feeling too close to the event to think properly about what it meant, but I thought it might be useful to start off with what we set out trying to do. We had our first Art & Installations meeting for 2026 just over a year ago. Looking at the notes from that meeting, we set out with a bunch of ideas and hopes (including getting a planetarium!). As the team came together, I tried to synthesise my thinking on what Art & Installations is for into a "mission briefing" document. In the spirit of sharing how the sausage is made, here it is for you to read.

Looking back, I think we mostly did what I hoped we'd do. Where we succeeded, the entire team shares in that success, as they all worked incredibly hard. Where we fell short, I take full responsibility for that as team lead. I plan to discuss those mistakes more fully later, after I've had the opportunity to email all of the people who brought an installation.

Mission Briefing

From the emfcamp.org website:

Electromagnetic Field is a non-profit camping festival for those with an inquisitive mind or an interest in making things: hackers, artists, geeks, crafters, scientists, and engineers.

What is an "Installation"?

For the purposes of the Installations team, an "installation" is:

• A physical thing, an online or phone-based experience, or an in-person activity
  • that happens during the festival
  • that can be seen, heard or otherwise interacted with by attendees
• It may be a demonstration, but isn't a talk
• It may be a performance, but isn’t a typical music show – i.e., a "performed installation"
• It may incorporate a participatory activity, but isn't a regular workshop
• It may involve aspects of all of the above

Anyone who brings an installation is – for our purposes – an "artist".

It is worth keeping in mind that people who work for free to either make or do something that brings value to the festival count as volunteers and so should be afforded the same respect and support.

What are our goals?

• We want the site/festival to be fun.
• We want people who wouldn't normally think of coming to EMF to do so; we want to avoid cliques; we want to be welcoming.
• Everyone is an artist. Lots of people consider themselves to be "hackers" or "makers", but wouldn't call themselves "artists". One of our goals should be to show people that they are. We can do this by creating a level playing field between more established artists and people just bringing a little thing that they've made. We want people to be proud of their work and see how valued it is.
• We want attendees to see things that inspire them to make too.
• We want to encourage people to talk to each other and collaborate.

What are we for?

People can just bring things anyway, what is our team for?

Things we add:

• A guaranteed ticket – being accepted into the CfP allows you to buy a ticket from the content allocation
• Guidance and advice on:
  • technical information on the festival and how it operates
  • what historically works with attendees to the festival
  • how to make things work for people with less experience of doing installations
  • health & safety
  • code of conduct / privacy
• Helping people who need specific resources or need to talk to specific teams, such as: Phone, Power, Network, Construction
• Placement and scheduling of installations on-site – finding places and times to put exciting things where they will get the most attention
• Promoting installations to attendees through the map, schedule, website, signage, etc.
• Financial and logistical support – grants and help with transportation
• Food tokens – we can get volunteer meals for artists
• Being encouraging:
  • lots of people are just starting out making things and need encouragement
  • people may not have been to EMF before and don't know the culture of the festival or who to talk to, we want them to go away having had a great time and telling their friends how wonderful EMF is

Responsibilities

Before the festival

• Outreach to people who we would like to see do something
• Monitoring the mailbox and advising people who email
• Monitoring the CfP, same advice stuff but also accepting and rejecting proposals
• Making the calls:
  • on whether something is safe and "fits" with the festival and therefore gets our endorsement (and a guaranteed ticket)
  • on whether someone gets financial support (including free or subsidised tickets)
  • on whether someone gets a campervan spot (we can allocate some outside of the ticket sales)
• Working out installation placements/scheduling and logistical support
• Managing permissions to be on site during build-up
• Passing artists on to the rest of the Content team and/or encouraging them to submit talk CfPs where we think they might also make an excellent speaker; same for workshops
• Being encouraging (see above)

At the festival

• Artist liaison - we should be the first point of contact when artists arrive
• Resolving issues for artists - working with other teams like Power, Construction, Phones or Network
• Providing power - we have an Installations allocation of cables, splitters and sockets
• Keeping an eye on installations safety – in particular, liaising with Power team to PAT test outdoor installations
• Dealing with last-minute placements and scheduling
• Installations signage and map
• Handling complaints/feedback: we are usually the first point of contact for the other teams when something breaks, makes too much noise or is found in an unexpected place - even if it's not one of "our" installations!
• Helping artists to access the volunteer pool where they need help to run their installation
• Handing out food tokens for artists who are running installations
• Connecting artists with each other – make a point of introducing artists to each other where they share the same space or show an interest in someone else's work
• Being encouraging (see above)

Addendum

Looking back over this document again, I think I missed something important in the original "Being encouraging" section. Even if you've done EMF multiple times before and are an experienced installation artist, making something new is always hard. It's easy to get sucked into negative thoughts about your work and sometimes someone just saying "yes! that sounds amazing!" is what you need to find the motivation to complete it.

Equally, sometimes a project just doesn't work out how you'd hoped, no matter how hard you work on it. Having someone say, "hey! that's cool, don't worry about it" can restore your confidence. More than one of the installations that we accepted for EMF 2026 didn't go to plan. I never felt that anyone let us down and actively encouraged people to bring what they had and talk about it. Some of my favourite work was half-finished or broken. In particular, Nervous Squirrel's calculator orrery failed part way into the festival and I have never been more proud of an artist when, instead of packing it down, he left it in place with the broken belt there to see and a note explaining what had gone wrong and how he would do it again differently.

My greatest joy in EMF is that it is a place where we can support each other through such challenges.