Last weekend I went down to London to see Area10 in Peckham. They were having an event called re booted, as part of the node.London (http://www.nodel.org/) series of events.
Area 10 http://www.area10medialab.co.uk/
Area 10 Project space is pleased to launch the new media lab
platform. The medialab is being introduced to facilitate the
development of research and art practices using open source new
technologies in the media arts. <AREA 10: MEDIALAB /> will focus on
engaging cross-disciplinary collaborations between various arts and
science based practices, encouraging open and critical discussion in
addition to sharing knowledge and skills transfer.
It was two days of talks, with a launch night on saturday full of electronic music using the platforms described during the days. Eg Jackbytes, Fluxus, PD, MaxMSP etc.
Area10 is a huge warehouse which was a great space for some large video artworks. The most fun was the peace mobile cinema from the Netherlands. It had seating for up to nine people, and was a group experience, where the audience became part of the movie.
The next major event Area10 are planning is a summer streaming event. With their linkages to goto10, constant, openlabs, it should be great. They are looking at more than just presentations through it, but doing live art.
(device/artwork by simsyn.org)
A paper of mine on how artists access technology has been pblished in the online fibreculture journal. I looked at artworks by FOAM, Blast Theory and the SymbioticA Research Group. You can find it here
Last year I went on a biorama hike on the Yorkshire moor above Huddersfield given by Andy Gracie with Brandon Ballangee . Footage of this is in a documentary by the Arts Catalyst on Brandon’s Malamp project looking at deformed frogs found in the US, Europe and UK.
It has also been screened as part of Exit Art in New York as part of the Social Environmental Arts show. So last night, I got an email from a friend visiting NY " Brian, I saw you in a film in NY!" What fun!
Last Saturday, Pete and I had a 12hr SketchUp day at our studio at they Waygood. Sketchup was chosen for its accessibility, and the ability to run it on PC and Apple computers(Sadnly not linux yet). It was fun and frustrating and a great learning experience. Some of us (ie Elizabeth and Alan) got right into the nitty gritty of making amazing models (see the cover icon). I got into looking at sketchyphysics, this consumed me for a few hours and time later on. The documentation is not great, and my models kept falling apart and rolling off the edge of the world.
Pete modelled his garden shed and then proceeded to drop it in Bolder Colorado.
We have only just scratched the surface, but the main thing is, it is great to do things in groups. That is what I have experienced here, at the RadioCraftLab and other workshops I have been too. Having a small group of mixed abilities smooths the difficulties and frustrations of getting to grips with new software/concepts.
more photos via http://www.flickr.com/photos/topsy/sets/72157604443447609/
Yesterday Pete, Alan and I we went for a training ride along the Tyne. It was a bit painfull riding into the wind but good training for the actual hilly coast to coast ride.
Pete blogs about it here training-into-the-wind/
