Inspired by Situationists' dérive, drift stands for urban wanderings, psychogeography, alternative mappings, location specific media and other forms of contemporary nomadism. On the ground, in the air, or suspended between the two.

How do we make our realities more malleable, less static? How to we open up physical objects and make apparent their relationships, their connections with other things, events, or people? In Bruce Sterling's words - how do we move from technological gizmos to spimes (or space-time media)?

Reality != Truth
How do we distinguish between imagination and reality, fiction and non-fiction? Our histories are brimming with accounts of parallel, superimposed, amplified realities. Today we are able to experiment with world building tools, DIY toolkits for constructing evolving realities. We are beginning to make our imaginary worlds tangible and shared? What can we learn from theatre, shamanism and ethnobotany to help us imagine and actualise possible futures? What cognitive and physiological processes are needed for something to be perceived as 'real'?

Art in uncertain conditions

Off the ground & out of this world

Self-sustaining realities against the culture of mass extinction

Materials for transforming cultures
Working with physical materials is a wonderfully sensual experience. We touch, stroke, knead, cut & tear at them and they guide us to the forms and functions hidden in their pores. Material-centred design allows the artists and designers to discover new designs from the 'inside-out', beginning with the basics - manipulation of matter. Do we choose a material for a purpose, or do we sculpt the purpose from the material? How do we make physical designs more responsive, malleable and active, as living tissues, organisms and landscapes?

foamfood: 2004-2010

Self-sustaining, lightweight structures for temporary, mobile and wearable architectures.

Exercises in Colloquial Luminescence

'The first corporeal form which some call corporeity is in my opinion light.' -Robert Grosseteste

Ubiquitous technology and the attrition of civil rights and privacy

In 2010 FoAM expanded the residency programme to include people of all ages. The first experiment was having a "Family in Residence" (FIR), welcoming Alex Davies, Alexandra Crosby and their young son Luka Davies for a three month long residency at FoAM in Brussels. The experience was extremely positive and we concluded that it is an experiment worth continuing.

AEGIS: Asia-Europe Generalists in Sojourn
- A trans-local residency programme

The residency programme focuses on encouraging collaborations between creative practitioners and cultural organisations from Asia & Europe, who address global cultural issues (such as adapting to climate change, loss of biodiversity, energy security, etc.) from a transdisciplinary perspective. We particularly focus on supporting young generalists (people able to connect disciplines, such as art & science, ecology & technology) working on creating a holistic and resilient global culture.

During this research gathering Angelo Vermeulen will present a round-up of Translucent Futures, a project he started at FoAM in June and continued at a residency at [nadine] in September and October, supported by the Guild for Reality Integrators and Generators. The meeting starts with a short introduction outlining the project’s main goals and research approach through mind-mapping, wiki-building and collaboration with specialists from different fields.

Catherine Watling is an artist who specializes in inter-disciplinary work with a special interest in art/science based research. Her work predominantly focuses on the alternative and sensual use of digital tools to create interactive and immersive experiential environments. She is currently Associate Artist at the Junction, Cambridge and has recently been awarded an Arts Council Grant in order to attend the Kilwa Archaeological Survey as attached artist. She is also Co-Director of New Dust.

Catherine Watling is an artist who specializes in inter-disciplinary work with a special interest in art/science based research. Her work predominantly focuses on the alternative and sensual use of digital tools to create interactive and immersive experiential environments. She is currently Associate Artist at the Junction, Cambridge and has recently been awarded an Arts Council Grant in order to attend the Kilwa Archaeological Survey as attached artist. She is also Co-Director of New Dust.

A bit of context on the work in progress...

17 May - 17 August 2004: Dressware project

The SleepingBagDress prototype by Ana Rewakowicz involves a creation of multipurpose inflatable dress that through inflation can change and adapt to different situations and environments. Following the legacy of Archigram and Michael Webb's Suitaloon and Cushicle, Ana's concept evolves around the idea of clothing as portable architecture and brings our individual needs to the basic, everyday experience of survival and "you never know WEAR?" situations.

29 June - 08 July 2004: RED#NET solutions to practical and fantastical needs

by Kayle Brandon and Heath Bunting http://irational.org/

RED#NET is a multi-functional, permeable, portable surface that reroutes and reapplies public space. Constructing systems that support and restrict flow via the horizontal and vertical axis.

28 June - 04 July 2004 : Tension workshop

14 artists and technologists from Belgium, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Sweden and Canada

The participants spent a week in the FoAM lab in Brussels working on prototypes, models and full scale structures that use the force of tension to sustain their shape and structural integrity, such as inflatables, nets and tensegrity structures.

From the pneumatic turmoil of the tension workshop a shiny airtight meeting room suited for anyone from ordinary folks to inflated executives, is part of a show at Looking Glass. The silvery plastic film houses the bodies and heads of three people at a time for an intimate meeting in the shared chamber. This triangular starfish evolved out of the experiments of Linda Karlsson. Her inflated costumes started to swallow-up more and more people, duos and eventually trios.

'Sound Modulated Light #1' is environment of light and sound. The sound is not present acoustically but is radiated by the lights. The light sources are the carriers for the sound. The space consists of a design of multiple lights. Every light source has a double role. It's part of the light design and part of the sound design. The sound is modulated on top of the light by means of intensity modulation. The lights are flickering but mostly with a speed which not perceivable with the eye.

Residency of Isabel Rocamora and Camila Valenzuela

A public experiment exploring the convergences of (anti)-gravity performance, movement and media.

'The first corporeal form which some call corporeity is in my opinion light.' - Robert Grosseteste, 'On light or the beginning of forms'

Excercise 02: syncop tic structure

Rachel Wingfield creates reactive, luminous surfaces and objects through the use of new technologies enabling familiar products to take on a new dimension.

http://loop.ph

Lead by Bart Vandeput, the PhoEf participants explored the interdependent relationships between people, photovoltaics and light as a primary resource. Also the opportunities and limits of low levels of electricity will be investigated.

PhoEf is a research project led by Bart Vandeput, exploring the essence, use and abuse of the photovoltaic effect - the conversion of light into electrical energy - within the realms of science, industry, technology and the arts.

Two FoAM & gRig presentations at the Data Ecologies workshop "On growing of worlds: whole systems in turbulent environments" by Maja Kuzmanovic and "What am I doing rendering fractals?" by Steven Pickles.

http://www.timesup.org/laboratory/DataEcologies/

Two FoAM & gRig presentations at the Data Ecologies workshop "On growing of worlds: whole systems in turbulent environments" by Maja Kuzmanovic and "What am I doing rendering fractals?" by Steven Pickles.

http://www.timesup.org/laboratory/DataEcologies/

Screening of In Human Format DVD by Bent Object and FoAM at the Portland Art Center.

This Research gathering, brought together FoAM's researchers in residence from 2006 and 2007, to discuss topics as wide ranging as Fair Trade, photovoltaics, cultural scents, extreme weather fashion, strange attractors and techno-textiles.

Everyone was welcome to join the discussions, talk about their current explorations, unsolvable problems, or amazing inventions. The gathering began at noon, with a 'guilt-free' lunch, collected and cooked by FoAM's dedicated shoppers and chefs.

More about the programme...

This Research gathering, brought together FoAM's researchers in residence from 2006 and 2007, to discuss topics as wide ranging as Fair Trade, photovoltaics, cultural scents, extreme weather fashion, strange attractors and techno-textiles.

Everyone was welcome to join the discussions, talk about their current explorations, unsolvable problems, or amazing inventions. The gathering began at noon, with a 'guilt-free' lunch, collected and cooked by FoAM's dedicated shoppers and chefs.

More about the programme...

This Research gathering, brought together FoAM's researchers in residence from 2006 and 2007, to discuss topics as wide ranging as Fair Trade, photovoltaics, cultural scents, extreme weather fashion, strange attractors and techno-textiles.

Everyone was welcome to join the discussions, talk about their current explorations, unsolvable problems, or amazing inventions. The gathering began at noon, with a 'guilt-free' lunch, collected and cooked by FoAM's dedicated shoppers and chefs.

More about the programme...

This event is a part of FoAM’s yearly theme ‘nourish’. The process of preparation, presentation and consumption of food, its related cultural rituals, and their informal breaking are used to achieve the synaesthesia of sensual perception in responsive environments.

Bartaku's 'PhoEf' exposé at the 23rd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy and Conference and Exhibition'

Session nr.: 5BO.
Feria de Valencia, Auditorium 3a - Valencia, Spain
http://www.photovoltaic-conference.com

PhoEf aims to provide insight about aims and aesthetics of converting solar radiation into electricity. More particularly, the opportunities that photovoltaic technologies provide to artistic creations, performances, and interventions that make use of electrical energy.

http://x4.fo.am/phoef/

Kate Rich will introduce Feral Trade (http://feraltrade.org), serve ferally traded tea & coffee & conduct a raffle of the Feral Trade Hamper, a seasonal selection of goods sourced and transported over social networks.

Kate Rich will introduce Feral Trade (http://feraltrade.org), serve ferally traded tea & coffee & conduct a raffle of the Feral Trade Hamper, a seasonal selection of goods sourced and transported over social networks.

Bart Vandeput is representing FoAM as the Provocateur of the City Space and The Every Day session of 48 degrees Celsius, Symposium on public space, art and ecology:

http://www.48c.org

At the Burning Ice festival: Re-thinking the Future'
Two of FoAM's researchers in residence will talk about their climate related work.

Bartaku will present PhoEf in the form of a mini-workshop and a talk.
http://x4.fo.am/phoef/

Angelo Vermeulen will present his project Biomodd in the evening.
http://www.biomodd.net/

http://www.kaaitheater.be/productie.jsp?productie=511

Bart Vandeput will lead a gRig workshop on Photovoltaics for artists.

Please join FoAM's first family in residence, Alex, Ali and Luka, for a farewell afternoon tea.

They will be presenting the prototype of their robotic au pair (Robaupair) and sharing some ideas on the creative possibilities of parenthood.

Summary of the residency findings: http://lib.fo.am/research_report_ali_alex

From December 2009 to February 2010, Christina Stadlbauer (Body Water) and Bartaku (A Slow Flow) were residents at the Periferry 1.0 project in Guwahati, North-East India.

They will share their findings and experiences during a Research Gathering at FoAM.

Christina Stadlbauer: BODY WATER
Every-day-medicine in every-day-life - tales from Himalaya's feet

URL:

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URL:

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Abstract:

Grid independency, silent electrical energy generation without emissions, harmless low-DC-power, mobility and new materials with new aesthetics are key characteristics of photovoltaic technologies. Together with new scientific tropes that are emerging in this highly vibrating multidisciplinary field, they have attracted a first generation of 'early adapters' in the arts. It allows for further dynamic exploration of the complex relation between light, electrical
energy and the media that can be used to represent it. In their turn, these explorations generate new artistic tropes originating from unexpected set-ups, combinations of materials and contexts of employment that might lead to new scientific questions possibly benefitting the improvement of the PV-technologies. Moreover, in the current reshaping of the organization of access to energy, the arts can and should play an active and critical role.

When confronted with contemporary environmental questions, one thing became very clear to me: out of fear, or guilt, we can’t create anything. Therefore, as a topic of my research residency, I chose the quality of lightness. Italo Calvino underlines this quality as one of his ‘Six Memos for the Next Millennium’, where he describes a scene from Cernavantes’ novel, in which Don Quixote drives his lance through the sail of a windmill and is hoisted up into the air. I wonder whether we could begin to construct our worlds from this lightness.

When confronted with contemporary environmental questions, one thing became very clear to me: out of fear, or guilt, we can’t create anything. Therefore, as a topic of my research residency, I chose the quality of lightness. Italo Calvino underlines this quality as one of his ‘Six Memos for the Next Millennium’, where he describes a scene from Cernavantes’ novel, in which Don Quixote drives his lance through the sail of a windmill and is hoisted up into the air. I wonder whether we could begin to construct our worlds from this lightness.

How do you relate to global crises in a way that is not demotivating? The discussion about our future is dominated by appeals for austerity and reduction. This is not a very inspiring message as it focuses on negative aspects of society. It is hard to see a positive revolution on a global scale, based on negative arguments. Instead we should focus on positive changes that inspire everyone. This debate should be dominated by the possibility of increasing the quality of life.

How do you relate to global crises in a way that is not demotivating? The discussion about our future is dominated by appeals for austerity and reduction. This is not a very inspiring message as it focuses on negative aspects of society. It is hard to see a positive revolution on a global scale, based on negative arguments. Instead we should focus on positive changes that inspire everyone. This debate should be dominated by the possibility of increasing the quality of life.

In 2001 I found a book by mathematician Julien C. Sprott called “Strange attractors: creating patterns in chaos”. The book described the mathematics behind a class of fractals called strange attractors. In the book, Sprott presents a computer program which can search for strange attractors by trying many randomly generated equations until one was discovered which met certain criteria. The results were clouds of points which formed interesting organic shapes. each set of equations created a unique set of points.

In 2001 I found a book by mathematician Julien C. Sprott called “Strange attractors: creating patterns in chaos”. The book described the mathematics behind a class of fractals called strange attractors. In the book, Sprott presents a computer program which can search for strange attractors by trying many randomly generated equations until one was discovered which met certain criteria. The results were clouds of points which formed interesting organic shapes. each set of equations created a unique set of points.

The aim of this research project is to create a place for a materials library, on-site and on-line, where interested parties could find information, observe, touch, create, discover, enjoy, and exchange materials. The on-site library is currently under development at the FoAM lab in Brussels.

In progress: http://libarynth.org/research_report_lina_kusaite

Valuator is a study of the contemporary art market, focusing on marketing strategies for new media art sales. The most innovative and challenging of contemporary art practices are not transacted in the mainstream market for current art. To have agency within these spheres of trade, the results of new media art disciplines require a redefinition of: what is deemed collectable; how the price mechanics in fine art are circulated and the preservation instruments used to build the heritage trust necessary for the endorsement of future beneficiaries.

Valuator is a study of the contemporary art market, focusing on marketing strategies for new media art sales. The most innovative and challenging of contemporary art practices are not transacted in the mainstream market for current art. To have agency within these spheres of trade, the results of new media art disciplines require a redefinition of: what is deemed collectable; how the price mechanics in fine art are circulated and the preservation instruments used to build the heritage trust necessary for the endorsement of future beneficiaries.

The core question of this research is: by what mechanisms can humanity become more conscious of and potentially change, it’s relationship to reality?

PhoEf is a research project exploring the essence, use and abuse of the photovoltaic effect - the conversion of light in electrical energy - in the realms of science, industry, technology and the arts. PhoEf emerged from a personal, transversal flight through the interconnected worlds behind and around photovoltaics; a technology based on A.E. Becquerel's 1839 observation of the photovoltaic effect. PhoEf is embedded in a rich, multidisciplinary, historical context.

In progress: http://libarynth.org/luminous/phoef

PhoEf is a research project exploring the essence, use and abuse of the photovoltaic effect - the conversion of light in electrical energy - in the realms of science, industry, technology and the arts. PhoEf emerged from a personal, transversal flight through the interconnected worlds behind and around photovoltaics; a technology based on A.E. Becquerel's 1839 observation of the photovoltaic effect. PhoEf is embedded in a rich, multidisciplinary, historical context.

In progress: http://libarynth.org/luminous/phoef

PhoEf is a research project exploring the essence, use and abuse of the photovoltaic effect - the conversion of light in electrical energy - in the realms of science, industry, technology and the arts. PhoEf emerged from a personal, transversal flight through the interconnected worlds behind and around photovoltaics; a technology based on A.E. Becquerel's 1839 observation of the photovoltaic effect. PhoEf is embedded in a rich, multidisciplinary, historical context.

In progress: http://libarynth.org/luminous/phoef

The research takes place at the intersection of several networks: art, information and food. Its express intention is to use tools of art (production/curation) to investigate how our daily grocery products are articulated, packaged, distributed and delivered.

The research takes place at the intersection of several networks: art, information and food. Its express intention is to use tools of art (production/curation) to investigate how our daily grocery products are articulated, packaged, distributed and delivered.

The research takes place at the intersection of several networks: art, information and food. Its express intention is to use tools of art (production/curation) to investigate how our daily grocery products are articulated, packaged, distributed and delivered.

I research scents and the sense of smell. My challenge is to use them as a medium in art. In the exhibition context I create a spatial expressions with the scents, I give workshops pm extracting the scents (I extract the scents literary from anything: from food to the cloth, flowers to the ink), and I develop unique 'perfumes' with my extracts, not for to be worn, but to be smelled. I use basic chemistry and cooking techniques in my mini-laboratory for extracting the scents.

More information: http://scent-lab.blogspot.com/

I research scents and the sense of smell. My challenge is to use them as a medium in art. In the exhibition context I create a spatial expressions with the scents, I give workshops pm extracting the scents (I extract the scents literary from anything: from food to the cloth, flowers to the ink), and I develop unique 'perfumes' with my extracts, not for to be worn, but to be smelled. I use basic chemistry and cooking techniques in my mini-laboratory for extracting the scents.

More information: http://scent-lab.blogspot.com/

I research scents and the sense of smell. My challenge is to use them as a medium in art. In the exhibition context I create a spatial expressions with the scents, I give workshops pm extracting the scents (I extract the scents literary from anything: from food to the cloth, flowers to the ink), and I develop unique 'perfumes' with my extracts, not for to be worn, but to be smelled. I use basic chemistry and cooking techniques in my mini-laboratory for extracting the scents.

More information: http://scent-lab.blogspot.com/

How do artists want to create software? What environments already exist? What new directions are needed?

Tale of Tales will explore these questions in a dedicated workshop.
http://tale-of-tales.com/

Toilets have been a source of taboo, embarrassment and humour in many cultures. This project explores the subject of toilets and defecation and aims to bring it out in the open. The intent is to create a cafe which makes toilet discussion a table discussion, thereby giving it legitimacy. ‘WcCafe’ would serve coffee and snacks in an environment which is beautiful, refreshing and purposeful.

In progress: http://libarynth.org/wccafe_report

Toilets have been a source of taboo, embarrassment and humour in many cultures. This project explores the subject of toilets and defecation and aims to bring it out in the open. The intent is to create a cafe which makes toilet discussion a table discussion, thereby giving it legitimacy. ‘WcCafe’ would serve coffee and snacks in an environment which is beautiful, refreshing and purposeful.

In progress: http://libarynth.org/wccafe_report

"Most of you must have been puzzled on occasion as to what i have been doing here: but I assure you that the most puzzled one has surely been myself..."

More of Alkan's research notes: http://libarynth.org/research_report_alkan

"Most of you must have been puzzled on occasion as to what i have been doing here: but I assure you that the most puzzled one has surely been myself..."

More of Alkan's research notes: http://libarynth.org/research_report_alkan