residency

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 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

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.

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.

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.

Excercise 02: syncop tic structure

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'

Exercises in Colloquial Luminescence

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

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

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.

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.

foamfood: 2004-2010

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?

Self-sustaining realities against the culture of mass extinction

Off the ground & out of this world