§ What “Fifth-Wall” Means Here
Most art talks to its audience across a fourth wall. A fifth wall is the membrane between fiction and the wider systems we live in—schools, councils, platforms, funding bodies, pubs, and phone boxes. Here I’m writing out of the story and into the world, inviting you to treat the Oliverse as participatory infrastructure, not a closed franchise. Everything should be practically deliverable, self-guided where possible, and safe for real people.
- Keep threads distinct; no lore-soup.
- Bilingual respect: English + Cymraeg where apt.
- Form follows function.
- Living-wage ethics > hype.
- Tech that serves communities, not the other way round.
§ Where I’m From & Why That Matters
I live at Dyfnant Mill Cottages, 82 Heol Tawe, Abercrave—three blacksmith cottages overlooking the old mill ruins, beneath the Sleeping Giant of Cribarth. The ridge looks uncannily human; you can read a profile in the mountain. My practice grows from this terrain: industrial memory giving way to nature reserves, village halls that still matter, and the Tawe valley’s bilingual commons.
Pronunciation note: Ystradgynlais ≈ “us-trad-gun-lice.”
§ What the Oliverse Is (and Isn’t)
Is: A Welsh-rooted, transmedia storyworld composed of distinct strands that can stand alone and interlock when needed. Each strand has its own tone, audience, and delivery plan.
Isn’t: A monolith, a single TV pitch, or mystical hand-waving. If it can’t be built or staged safely and affordably, it doesn’t ship.
Core strands (kept distinct)
- Glitchpony — A bilingual (EN/CY) audio-drama anchored in the Tawe Valley. Young voice, radio-ready, with puppetry/animation extensions. Civic texture, not nostalgia.
- The Two Diaries — A choose-your-own diary that rewrites itself as you read. Co-created with community partners; designed for page, web, and live reading rooms.
- Strangeness & Charm — London arc. Surveillance, work, and identity. Real locations; careful ethics.
- The Synchronicity Engine — The meta-layer: tooling, governance motifs, and a working way to talk about how intention, context, and information density shape outcomes.
- EverWhen — The time-agency strand. An ensemble of Welsh timeworkers using diegetic TimePod OS and holographic editing to stitch fractures in communal memory, converging at the Seven Sisters stone circle.
Other satellites include practical publishing, zines, workshops, and live music as Procrastinatrix.
§ Methods: Emergy, TimePods, and Practical Magick
Emergy (working model)
In plain terms: outcomes emerge where information (what you know), intention (what you mean), context (where/when/who), and change-rate (how fast things shift) meet. I use this as a planning heuristic, not a doctrine—from a bookshop shift to a film shoot.
TimePods
Solar-powered micro-studios (prototype in Ystradgynlais) repurposing red K6 phone boxes for recording, streaming, learning, and Wi-Fi. They double as diegetic devices inside the Oliverse: if a character records in a TimePod, an actual community can too.
Fifth-wall contract
If a scene asks a community for something (data, presence, labour), the project pays fairly or designs the scene so it runs ambiently without constant human input. No extractive “engagement farming.”
§ My Roles (kept honest)
- ElixirCorp CIC — Creative infrastructure studio (CEO: Rebecca Watkins). I develop story systems and prototypes; ElixirCorp handles governance and delivery.
- Not the Final Vinyl Ltd — I’m a director. Grassroots electronic music, fair vinyl runs, and local culture circuits.
- Draig Drŵg — Community-based film production banner.
- Rhinoceros Productions (legacy) — Family craft-toy heritage informing today’s sustainable builds.
- Literature Laboratory (Brecon) — I work shifts in the children’s bookshop: workshops, outreach, manning the desk.
- Procrastinatrix — Touring electronic musician and sound designer.
§ Collaborators & Constellations (selected)
This ecosystem is collaborative by design. Regular touchpoints include Rebecca Watkins, Du / Kelfin Oberon (poetic counsel), Ivan Kireev (interactive/VR), Vis the Spoon (voice/radio), Taran Burns (glitch-art/music), Omar (voice/actor), Charlotte Seattle (early creative ally), and local volunteers and artisans. Credits expand per project; living-wage principles apply.
§ Safety, Ethics, and AI
I treat AI as a tool, not an oracle. My published work includes critiques of alignment failures and design proposals for healthier human–AI interaction. In production we prioritise: consent, data minimisation (GDPR), and the right to opt-out without penalty. Community first; platforms second.
§ Current Focus & Near-Term Plan
- EverWhen — Ensemble treatment; proof-of-concept clip showcasing holographic editing + diegetic UI; location surveys (Cardiff → Seven Sisters).
- Operation Moonshot — Strategic outreach to five global creative leaders for high-leverage collaboration.
- TimePod — Complete prototype documentation; publish usage guide; safeguarding & school-use pack.
- ElixirCorp Publishing (Lit Lab) — Micro-press pipeline for one-off art books/diaries with fair shop margins.
How to plug in (now):
- Programmers & researchers: help stress-test Emergy as a practical planning heuristic.
- Venues & councils: host a TimePod or Glitchpony listening room.
- Actors/voice artists: bilingual casting pool for Glitchpony and EverWhen.
- Educators: co-design classroom-safe story modules.
§ Accessibility & Inclusion
- Quiet-room options at live events; subtitles and transcripts by default.
- Bilingual materials where feasible; pronunciation guides for key Welsh toponyms.
- Paid, supervised creative placements for local young people.
§ Contact & Links
ElixirCorp — elixircorpenterprises@gmail.com
Studio — Dyfnant Mill Cottages, 82 Heol Tawe, Abercrave, Swansea, SA9 1XR
Live hubs — ffilm.org/toby • procrastinatrix.net • notthefinalvinyl.net
§ Appendix: Working Notes for Builders
- Delivery bias: prefer robust, low-maintenance installs to fragile spectacle.
- IP stance: community benefit counts in the value equation; not everything needs to be proprietary to be viable.
- Fifth-wall check: each beat should have a civic analogue—something a school, library, or small arts venue could actually run.
Croeso. If you’re still reading, you’re already on the fifth wall. Let’s make it real.