FoAM - dynamics

Research Gathering 2007 06 15: Kate Rich and other RiRs

maja — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 14:36:42 +0000

Start: 2007-06-15 12:00 Europe/Brussels

End: 2007-06-15 20:00 Europe/Brussels

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...

Kate Rich presented the plans for her Fair Trade Research, talking about food packaging and incomplete narratives, labour photography and the issues arising from Fair Trade presenting itself as the only alternative to Free Trade. People working in the artistic sector, Kate says, should watch their public diet. Come and hear from one of the few true grocery geeks around!
http://www.feraltrade.org/

Theun Karelse is aware of our uncertain future. By using his favorite tool, humorous visualisation (i.e. comics illustration), he explored an array of semi-practical solutions to extreme weather-events. The protagonist, Martin Brolin goes through a series of unfortunate events, such as a Tsunami, a bush-fire, or a speeding SUV. However, he comes prepared - with Tsunami Pants, an inflatable Hummer and a heat-loving extremophile cloak. During the gathering, the participants had the opportunity to dress their own Martin in Extreme Weather Fashion.
http://tsunamipants.blogspot.com/

Steven Pickles (Pix) talked about the beauty and strangeness of particular number spaces. In the past months, he delved into 'Aesthetic Explorations in Multivariate Polynomial Maps'. Basing his primarily aesthetic research on fractal mathematics of strange attractors, Pix worked on algorithms for visualising abstract graphical spaces and developing a tool for navigating them. Glimpse into this many dimensional data-ecology, and digital physics might not seem so strange after all!

Lina Kusaite brought news from the Avantex/TechTextil Fair about the newest and greenest materials that the industry can offer.
http://avantex.messefrankfurt.com/

Maki Ueda revealed the latest secrets from her Witch's Kitchen Lab. The participants had a chance to smell Seaweed and Cherry blossom, Maki's brand new distillates.
http://witch-lab.blogspot.com/

Finally, Bart Vandeput told us about the only solar workshop in Brussels and his discoveries of eco-tech libraries in the depths of Limburg.

Data Ecologies

maja — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 14:04:01 +0000

Start: 2007-07-20 11:00 GMT+2

End: 2007-07-21 23:00 GMT+2

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/

Vlaamse Overheid

maja — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 12:24:36 +0000

Tale of Tales: Visual programming for artists

maja — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:01:36 +0000

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/

Bartaku: PhoEf

maja — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:36:31 +0000

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

Jack Anderson: FoAM Valuator

maja — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:23:19 +0000

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 qualitative-analysis safari into the wilds of economic value construction in the arts.

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

dynamics

nik — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:13:53 +0000

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)?