FoAM - foamfroth

f0amfr0th11: On Beerology

maja — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 15:50:52 +0000

Start: 2009-04-17 17:00 Europe/Brussels

End: 2009-04-17 22:00 Europe/Brussels

FoAM and The guild for Reality Integrators and Generators (gRig) invite you to a frothy evening dedicated to the culture, science and sensory experimentation with beer. This f0amfr0th promises to become an adventure through zymurgy and beerology, lost and found traditions, techniques and ingredients.

FoAM will be joined by Tikras Alus, a Lithuanian collective of beer enthusiasts and geeks, who will share their adventures of tracking down historical sources, collecting original recipes of Baltic beer and searching for ancient ingredients. They will tell their tales over beer infused dishes and muse about world-altering meditations in the glass.

Please let us know if you are planning to come, so we can reserve a glass and a plate for you. If you do come, please bring along some of your favourite beers and/or dishes made with beer, hops or grains.

http://www.tikrasalus.lt/
http://x4.fo.am/grig/

This event is supported by the Flemish Authorities and the Culture 2000 Programme of the European Commission (for gRig)

VGC

maja — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 12:31:14 +0000

Vlaamse Overheid

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

f0amfr0th07: inflatable meeting room

nik — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 09:14:24 +0000

Start: 2004-12-04 02:00 Europe/Brussels

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.

She builds and presents it together with the FoAM team for trios from the audience to form different constellations for meeting in this contraption. Next to this a selection of beverages was available from containers within the exhibition space via translucent tubes carrying it across the boundary of glass to the outside world of the Rue Dansaert. Along this street pass some eccentric people, but just wait until you hang some tubes from the front of a building for people to suck various liquids and you will truly meet some outlandish individuals.

f0amfr0th06: Antepodeans

nik — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 08:15:20 +0000

Start: 2004-05-14 18:00 Europe/Brussels

2 presentations from FoAM's artists in residence from 'down-under', with a gastronomic degustation of 'native foods' from Australasia;

Radioqualia (Honor Harger): Sonifying Space: Creating Radio Astronomy

Rachael Tempest and Lucas Chirnside: softBomb.

as part of OFFF04 http://www.offf04.be/

Sonifying Space: Creating Radio Astronomy http://www.radio-astronomy.net
Author: Honor Harger
Organisation: r a d i o q u a l i a
Contact: honor@va.com.au
Abstract: The weight of imagery associated with space is overwhelming. We can all look at space, in pictures on television, in books, and on the internet. But in popular culture, we have no sense of what space sounds like. In film, on television, and in documentary, space is usually depicted as an aural void. And indeed, most people associate space with silence. This is in fact a misnomer. A great percentage of our scientific understanding of space has been derived by listening to space through radio telescopes. The data we glean from listening to space is every bit as significant and important to our comprehension of the Universe as more traditionally understood optical observation. Yet even the scientific perception of radio astronomy is largely visual. Despite the fact that objects are observed and recorded using radio, a technology commonly associated with the transmission of sound, emissions are represented using graphs, diagrams, graphic visualisations and other visual media. Many objects, do however emit radiation which can be made audible, making it possible to hear the Universe. Space, as it turns out, is a very noisy place, with many planets and stars containing their own sonic signature. And yet, very few people have ever heard space. Hardly any of us could describe the sound of a single planet or star.
Sonifying Space: Creating Radio Astronomy will explore this quandary. It will present audio recordings of objects such as the Sun, Jupiter and the Vela Pulsar, and use these sounds to demonstrate a process known as 'sonification'. Sonifying Space: Creating Radio Astronomy will discuss sonification in relation to an artwork-in-progress called Radio Astronomy. Radio Astronomy is a conceptual art project which will make audible the supposed silence of sidereal space by broadcasting live sounds intercepted by radio telescopes. The project is initiated by art group r a d i o q u a l i a , and is a collaboration with astronomers, engineers, radio and television stations and astronomical institutes such as the Windward Community College Radio Observatory in Hawaii, USA and the Ventspils International Radio Astronomy Centre in Latvia.

Radio Astronomy will enable listeners to tune into to different celestial frequencies, hearing planets, stars, and the constant hiss of cosmic noise. It will reveal the sonic character of objects in our galaxy, and in the process perhaps make these phenomena more tangible and comprehensible. The project is indeed radio astronomy in the literal sense - a radio station devoted to broadcasting sounds from space. As well as indicating how audio can often by the best way of representing complex scientific data about specific astronomical objects, Sonifying Space: Creating Radio Astronomy will also show ways in which the sounds recorded by radio telescopes can be interpreted within the contexts of information aesthetics, conceptual art, and avant-garde music theory. It will outline the correlations between Radio Astronomy and musique concrete, and illustrate the ways in which this work exists within the tradition of the ready-made.

r a d i o q u a l i a is an art group from New Zealand. We have been based in Europe since 1999, and exhibit, publish and lecture internationally. We are currently living in Latvia. r a d i o q u a l i a works in the fields of art, science and technology. Our principal interest is in the ways that broadcasting technologies such as radio and online streaming media can be used to create new artistic forms, and in ways that sound art can be used to illuminate abstract ideas and processes. We have been creatively working with radio for over 10 years, and internet radio for 6 years. Sound art and experimental music is also core to our practice. We have created many sound installations, performances and CD releases of our own work. We have recently completed a two radio programme retrospective for Radio New Zealand (airing 18 April and 25 April 2004), and recently produced an installation Small Gallery at the California Institute for Art in Los Angeles, USA. r a d i o q u a l i a's major work at present is digital art project about astronomy entitled, Radio Astronomy is supported by the Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science, and Technology. In September 2003, r a d i o q u a l i a were awarded the Leonardo-@rt Outsiders 2003 New Horizons Prize for their work in this area, together with the participants of the Open Sky installation at the @rt Outsiders exhibition at the Museum of European Photography in Paris. r a d i o q u a l i a's work has been exhibited at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, USA; Gallery 9, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA; Maison Europeenne de la Photographie in Paris, France; the Generali Foundation, Vienna, Austria; Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, UK; Sonar 2001 in Barcelona, Spain; VideoPositive2000, Liverpool, UK; the Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts, Tokyo, Japan; Ars Electronica 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003 in Linz, Austria; the Bregenz Festival 98 in Austria; the Lux Centre in London, UK; Iona Gallery, Scotland; the Experimental Art Foundation in Adelaide, Australia; CACSA in Adelaide, Australia; The Physics Room in Christchurch, New Zealand, Artspace, Auckland, New Zealand, and the HDLU in Zagreb, Croatia, among other places.

softBomb: detonating the artefactual

softBomb is a highly interactive installation, [currently in the design & development phase], for public use in museums and galleries; and creative misuse as a performance tool. softBomb is being developed through FoAM [http://fo.am], an independent mixed reality laboratory in Brussels, Belgium; and the core team are Rachael Tempest and Lucas Chirnside.

The purpose of softBomb is to allow people to take a range of 3D virtual objects and 'turn them on' in 3D gamespace. Using their body to play directly with a virtual object, knowledge and information about that object is 'released' from it as a constant flow of data. This data is the type of content virtual technologies should augment us to access - all that makes objects & artefacts meaningful and compelling - their physics, their chemistry, their story; what makes something historically significant, its use, its mis-use. As this flow of data is released from the 3D virtual object, it's simultaneously streamed into a custom-built 3D visualisation engine that we call a 'softBomb'. A softBomb could be described as a virtual version of the glass display cabinet - a common way to display static realworld artefacts. However softBomb takes this basic idea and re-invents it as a malleable virtual interface - all the edges and planes of the cabinet become both lenses and projection screens for experiencing the many hidden lives of an object. As a virtual object is 'played', physical information like G-force, torque, speed and structural data, cause the cabinet's surface to morph, bloat, shear and scrunch, manipulating the form into new readings of the physical processes at work. Simultaneously, video data, images and sounds are streamed onto the virtual cabinet glass, producing a rich associative field inciting the player to play more.

softBomb was born of a desire to create access to the dynamic potential of objects and artefacts that are either inaccessible, or need to be 'activated' to be meaningful. These types of objects might include:

* fragile historical artefacts that can't be touched;
* objects that need to be used to 'come alive' eg: an arrow;
* objects that are volatile, or expire eg: a firecracker;
* artefacts that are well-documented but out of public circulation eg: missing, stolen or have been returned to their original owners;
* objects that are difficult to access physically eg: underwater, outerspace, radioactive;
* objects of a large or tiny scale that are difficult to exhibit.

During this presentation, Lucas and Rachael will discuss the design and development of softBomb to date.

Lucas Chirnside is an architect and member of CTco-LLab, currently developing projects in object design and interactivity. 'softBomb' explores the potentials of interactive 3D environments and spatial interface design for accessing cultural heritage sites and volatile artefacts. Lucas seeks to mesh physical spaces with digital interfaces, positioning the user at a nexus of potential strongly informed by the body. Lucas founded PoHa (object design) at Tokyo Designers Block 2002, and has recently been published locally and abroad as an innovator of contemporary object design. Lucas develops physical and digital environments that engage performative operations and unstable object states. During May 2004, Lucas will be presenting 'softBomb' at NODEM (Nordic Digital Excellence in Museums, Helsinki, Finland) and undertaking the f0am AiR program, supported by the Ian Potter Cultural Trust (Aus). In December 2004, Lucas will take up a 3-month residency in Milan, Italy hosted by the Australia Council For The Arts. Lucas is based in Melbourne Australia.

Rachael Tempest is a researcher, artist, designer/developer and tutor; collaborating with Lucas Chirnside as CTco-LLab; and an artist in residence at FoAM Brussels. Current work evolves around collaboratively authoring tools & performative environments for expanded access to realworld, ephemeral and future-projected human-computer interaction & integration - exploring the social & cultural potential of living in 'mixed realities'. Current project 'softBomb' is a highly interactive installation for 'playing' the dynamic potential of inaccessible & volatile artefacts. Future experiments involve the gesture-based sonic augmentation of a group of mobile gamers, to explore the development of collective sentience as embodied distributed intelligence. Rachael has also developed several large online education applications incorporating follow-through community 'digital divide' development programs. Teaching experience spans undergraduate, community adult education and youth. A New Zealander, Rachael is based in Brussels, Belgium.

f0amfr0th05: Bombing from within

nik — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 17:20:19 +0000

Start: 2004-05-01 20:00 Europe/Brussels

Mayday celebration in ost.europa style. Associated with the offf04 festival. 01 May 2004, FoAM, Brussels, Belgium

f0amfr0th04: KREV de-auguration of the Temporary Embassy

nik — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 17:12:14 +0000

Start: 2003-12-13 20:00 Europe/Brussels

The de-auguration of the Temporary Embassy of KREV in Brussels.

f0amfr0th03: surface tension

nik — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 16:57:20 +0000

Start: 2003-08-23 20:00 Europe/Brussels

Swollen from months of breathing hot summer air, FoAM and Code 31 mark the end of the holiday season with a celebration of 'surface tension', the inflatable, the blown-up, the puffed-out and amplified space, contained within (hot-air) baloons, portable pools, inflatable architecture, inflatable clothing, soap bubbles, airy sounds, fizzy drinks, artificial muscles and pneumatic interfaces. The swelling party includes new installations and minute performances fresh from our summer labs, topical nourishment in media and matter, and the kick-start of the autumn season.

f0amfr0th02: Interfaces imagined

nik — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 16:39:57 +0000

Start: 2003-07-19 20:30 Europe/Brussels

f0amfr0th 02: Imagine the interfaces between the corporeal and the digital environments, in 1 month, 1 year, 1 decade, 1 century. Come and share your wishes, plans and musings in an informal setting with FoAM, Code 31 and their esteemed guests. Jonah Brucker-Cohen (MIT Media Lab Europe, Ireland), Katherine Moriwaki (University of Dublin, Ireland) and Stephen Barrass (CSIRO, Australia) will be presenting their work and ideas, accompanied by a musical and gastronomic 'Aperitivo'.

f0amfr0th09: Man - Horse

nik — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 16:32:20 +0000

Start: 2008-01-04 17:30 Europe/Brussels

To celebrate (or perhaps invoke) its fertility, we will kick-off 2008 in a `down to earth' way. Our first event of the year will be the screening of Audrius Mickevicius' documentary about farmer Jonas and his horse. Jonas is one of the few remaining examples of the nearly extinct "Man – Horse" generation. A generation based on the existential relationship, a symbiosis of sorts, between the human and the animal.

We invite you to join us for the screening and a drink:

What: f0amfr0th09: Man - Horse
When: Friday, 4 January 2008, 17:30
Where: FoAM, Koolmijnenkaai 30-34 Quai des Charbonnages, B-1080
Brussels, Belgium

Man – Horse, Creative documentary
Duration: 52 minutes
Scriptwriter, director, cameraman: Audrius Mickevicius

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the lives of elderly Lithuanian farmers haven’t changed much. Forgotten and often defrauded by the state, they continue to live their traditional lives, without the power, or the desire to change. When they live alone on the farms, their animals have become not only their food and tools, but also their friends. Jonas had a horse all his life. He worked hard, as did the horse, but he remains poor. He is as gentle as a horse, accepting everything that life has to offer - the injustice of the state, the selfishness of other farmers, his poverty-stricken life... Jonas and his horse live and work together to feed each other. Most of the time, he works harder than his animal, as Lithuanian peasants say - "he is the horse" - Jonas, the man - horse.

f0amfr0th08: Infernal Noise

nik — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 16:29:44 +0000

Start: 2005-07-14 12:00 Europe/Brussels

f0amfr0th08: Infernal Noise, with Postworld Industries' Infernal Noise Brigade and Filastine. 14 July 2005, FoAM Lab, Koolmijnenkaai 30-34, B-1080 Brussels.

http://www.postworldindustries.com/

f0amfr0th01: Litha

nik — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:09:05 +0000

Start: 2003-07-21 07:01 Europe/Brussels

"There is no night in my land.... it is forever summer's twilight" -- Lady Titania

litha. summer solstice, midsummer night, all-couples night, night of magick, time to speak with the faeries, sprites and the little people. to speak of possible worlds, dreams, fortuity and slowness... through atmospheric sound, translucent visuals, juicy foods and creamy drinks. FoAM invites you to bring your own mid-summer-night-dreams, recorded in any medium available (sound, visuals, foods, clothing, text, presence, movement...). We'll stretch reality to accommodate most uncanny worlds, as long as they are teeming with life.

"lord, what fools these mortals be" -- Puck

Public Diet: Recipes for Disaster

maja — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:08:40 +0000

Start: 2008-11-13 19:00 Europe/Brussels

End: 2008-11-13 22:00 Europe/Brussels

Recipes for Disaster
A feasibility dinner for sustained sustenance...

Artists, cultural organisations and members of the assorted cultural proletariat are invited to a potluck dinner and round table conversation on nutrition, catering and survival in the art world and the cultural sphere.

From the early afternoon, FoAM's cooks & guests will open the kitchen doors to our friends & peers from the cultural sector, to help us cook up a nutritious dinner and figure out what constitutes a Public Diet of artists and organisations in Belgium and abroad. Where do we source our materials? Do we cook? What do we cook for ourselves, and what for our guests and audiences? How is the contemporary environmental, cultural and economic turbulence effecting our diets? These and many other questions will be picked apart in an informal conversation over dinner.

Kate Rich will introduce the topics and questions by presenting the findings from her research into the Public Diet of cultural organisations - where foods for thought and consumption might crossover - including nutrition suggestions and cooking techniques for the travelling artist, as well as stationary organisations. We will exchange experiences, sources, recipes and ideas, attempting to assure a sustained sustenance of the cultural world in times of increased turbulence.

If you are interested in participating, please write to bxl[at]fo[dot]am before the 10th of November 2008.

foamfroth

_pix — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 10:42:08 +0000

a bubbly insiders view of the tech-art brewery

f0amfr0th is a series of events organised by FoAM and whoever happens to be visiting the organisation. The events have an open format that can range from a theoretical talk to chill out rooms, from improvised networked performances to orchestrated bio-chemical experiments. Spontaneity, improvisation and informality are keywords that will grant access to this programme to the public and anyone interested in the process of working in the field of art and technology.

table

nik — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 08:03:06 +0000