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Open calls / Pixelache Network

Call for Participants, Piksel Remote Hacklab: Experimental Communication System Open Workshop, Venice, May 28-29th

By ulla | Published: May 23, 2013

Free 2-day workshop, Venice, May 28-29th, 12pm-late.

Recent studies have shown that the electrical resistance in soil above a buried carcass has a different resistivity to that of near by soil due to the decomposition of bodily tissue. The body leaves a “real”, quantifiable electrical trace when it is dead. Following this idea that traces of the dead can be measured via electricity it may be possible that these traces can be found elsewhere such as in the electromagnetic field.

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Misc / Recommended events

Walking for AvoinGLAM event on Vartiosaari 15.5.

By agryfp | Published: May 12, 2013

AvoinGLAM / OpenGLAM group in Helsinki are arranging a walking-talking expedition on Eastern Helsinki’s Vartiosaari island this upcoming Wednesday 15th May. The theme will be Openness – from artists and cultural producers point of view.

Confirmed artists coming are: Sanna Vilmusenaho, Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen, Miska Knapek. The event starts at 17:00. We will begin with some coffee at a giant stone-table and then start walking around the island. There are some amazing hidden places in Vartiosaari. We can stop, be inspired by the landscape and talk.

Instructions to get to Vartiosaari: It is about 30mins from Suvilahti area (base of Pixelache festival).. By public transport: take Kalasatama Metro east to Herttoniemi, from there Bus 88 or 89, step out at Kiiltomadonpolku stop, walk towards Ilomäenpolku 9 (that’s the address you can use for Reittiopas). By car: park the car on Ilomäenpolku. Walk all the way to the shore across the boat club. Get to the pier on the very left. Call +358 4082 23552. Someone will need to collect you by rowing boat!

Image credit: samuli.turkkila

Posted in Misc, Recommended events | 4 Responses

Open calls

Call for professional collaborators: “Field_Notes – Deep Time”

By ulla | Published: May 7, 2013

“Field_Notes – Deep Time” is a week long art&science field laboratory organized by the Finnish Society of Bioart at the Kilpisjärvi Biological Station in Lapland/Finland. Five working groups, hosted by Oron Catts, Antero Kare, Leena Valkeapaa, Tere Vaden, Elisabeth Ellsworth and Jamie Kruse, together with a team of five, will develop, test and evaluate specific interdisciplinary approaches in relation to the “Deep Time” theme.

“Field_Notes – Deep Time” is in search of artistic and scientific responses to the dichotomy between human time-perception and comprehension, and the time of biological, environmental, and geological processes in which we are embedded. The local sub-Arctic nature, ecology, and geology, as well as the scientific environment and infrastructure of the Kilpisjärvi Biological Station will act as a catalyst for the work carried out.

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Misc / Pixelversity / Recommended events

Weekend of Kierrätystehdas / Recycling Factory 4-5.5.

By agryfp | Published: May 3, 2013

Family-friendly Recycling Factory / Kierrätystehdas events on eco-design and sustainable development take place this weekend, 4-5th May at Cable Factory, Helsinki. This year Pixelache contributes with a special Trashlab Repair Cafe, which also serves as a stall for Recycling Olympic Games, where it’s your last chance to sign up. Also Päivi Raivio, Justin Tyler-Tate and Andrew Paterson all make short presentations.

Recycling Factory (Kierräystehdas) events are organized and coordinated by Kierrätystehdas Assoc. established in 2010. The purpose of the association is to produce events, conferences and development projects related to recycling, ecology, ethics and sustainable development and to share information on these themes. The association’s aim is to increase the visibility of the eco-design industry and to promote collaboration and networking among the stakeholders of the field. In the future, the association intends to organize and coordinate multiple Recycling Factory events in Helsinki and elsewhere in Finland. We are constantly seeking active members and partners to develop the activities.

See you there!

For more info in Finnish & English: http://www.kierratystehdas.fi/
info [-at- ] kierratystehdas.fi

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Misc / Open calls

Open calls: Two residency programmes in Estonia (Ptarmigan and MoKS)

By john | Published: April 30, 2013

Ptarmigan project space in Tallinn, Estonia announces two separate open calls for two residency programmes in Estonia in 2013. Both programmes, funded by Kulturkontakt Nord, are open to applicants from the Nordic or Baltic countries, excluding Estonia (which means Latvia, Lithuania, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Greenland, Aland, Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway).

The Ptarmigan residency programme seeks proposals for a 2-month residency-based project in Tallinn. At Ptarmigan, the joy is in collaboration, being together, and expanding perspectives. We’re inclined towards ideas that offer some sort of educational component, and a chance for the public to be involved, while being experimental in nature. We seek residents to become an inherent but temporary part of our fluctuating team; we look to our residents to create and curate our programming.

Visit the Ptarmigan web site for further information and to apply.

Axis of Praxis is a shared residency programme between Ptarmigan and MoKS. The residency will offer the possibility to research and develop work in (and between) two distinctly different contexts within Estonia. MoKS is located in a village in rural south Estonia and Ptarmigan in the capital city of Tallinn. MoKS is an organisation run by artists and researchers, with experience in organising a diverse program of residencies, art symposia, projects, workshops and more. Ptarmigan is an event-driven organisation that focuses on trans-disciplinary projects, building participatory culture and social practices.

Residents will spend one month in Tallinn and one month in Mooste, with the residencies to occur between August and December 2013. Visit the Ptarmigan website for more information (including details about facilities and financial support) and to apply.

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Misc / Recommended events

Atomic Ciné brings energy questions to the screen 26th-28th April

By ulla | Published: April 22, 2013

A new documentary film festival Atomic Ciné kicks off on Chernobyl day, the 26th of April. The festival focuses on nuclear power and uranium industry with award-winning films from Japan, USA, Niger, France, UK, Germany and Sweden, many of which have not been screened in Finland. The three-day festival is patroned by the film director Aki Kaurismäki.

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Open calls / Pixelache Festival / Pixelversity

N1 – Narrative-themed open gathering at Arcada 15.5..

By agryfp | Published: April 17, 2013

‘N’ stands for Narrative, and this is the first in a series of events. Most of us live much of our lives in the ether. We have a mobile phone with us at all times with the result that we are always on and never truly alone. We have maps and geo-positioning on our phones so that we are always traceable and never truly lost. We tweet and update our Facebook status so that we say what comes into our minds when it comes into our minds, and we are rarely truly reflective.

In all of this we are telling each other stories about what we are doing, and from this others read stories about who we are. In all of this we are telling ourselves stories about who we really are. From all the shards and slivers that we scatter across the ‘digiverse’, we are piecing together new kinds of identities – and these identities propel us in some directions and constrain us from moving in others.

Welcome to join this open gathering event initiated by e-pedagogue Owen Kelly on Wednesday 15.5. from 10.00-18.00 at Arcada University of Applied Sciences (small auditorium and the open square), which includes virtual and physical seminar discussion, as-well as a gamified planning session about the social world we are constructing from new and fluid identities. See further info on participation and event below.

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Misc / Recommended events

Lectures, book presentation by Andrei Smirnov from the Theremin Center at Moscow State Conservatory 15-19.04.

By irina | Published: April 15, 2013

Andrey Smirnov from the Theremin Center at Moscow State Conservatory will be a visiting teacher of the Centre for Music & Technology at the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki, from Monday 15.4. to Friday 19.5.

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Misc / Uncategorized

Frontiers in retreat

By ulla | Published: April 12, 2013

Multidisciplinary approaches to ecology in contemporary art

Frontiers in Retreat, a five-year EU project coordinated by HIAP – Helsinki International Artist Programme fosters dialogue on ecological issues within a new European network of artist residencies. The aim of the project is to broaden the understanding of global ecological changes and their local impacts on European natural environments by means of contemporary artistic practices and a multidisciplinary approach. The project will take place in 2013–2018.

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Misc / Open calls / Pixelversity

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26.4. Waste management expedition to HSY Viikinmäki waste-water processing plant

By agryfp | Published: April 10, 2013

The second Waste management expedition will take place on Friday afternoon 26.4. returns to Viikinmäki area, North-west Helsinki, this time to visit Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority (HSY)’s waste water management centre. Welcome to sign up to join!

The Viikinmäki wastewater treatment plant, the largest in Finland, processes the domestic and industrial wastewater of Helsinki, Kerava, Tuusula, Järvenpää, Sipoo and of the central and eastern districts of Vantaa (in total about 800,000 inhabitants), and is primarily located inside rock. The wastewater treatment process employed is based on the ‘activated sludge’ method (Aktiivilietemenetelmä) and includes three phases: mechanical, biological and chemical treatment. Nitrogen removal has been enhanced with a biological filter that utilises denitrification bacteria. More information below.

Our host will be Mr. Yrjö Lundström, a specialist who knows the sludge process, and the wastewater treatment as well. He will speak English, but of course questions are welcome in Finnish. The tour will take place from 12.00 on site, and lasts 1.5-2 hrs. The tour is free but has a limit of 25 persons. Please sign up here in advance by 25.4.

During this expedition you will need to make your own way there to Hernepellontie 24. We meet outside the main gate. Take public transport bus 68 or 71 there (for example 68 leaving Rautatientori at 11.29 or Arabia at 11.45 will get you there on time). You are advised to wear proper shoes, and a bit warmer clothes than usually, as it is quite cold down there underground, but wearing a bigger coat could be too much.

Posted in Misc, Open calls, Pixelversity | 2 Responses

Activity

Open calls / Pixelversity

Maaland: Open call for workshops 13-18.7.

By agryfp | Published: May 24, 2013

Renewable worklab, in cooperation with RIXC Centre for New Media Culture, 13-18th July 2013, Kimito, SW Finland

What does it mean to have a piece of land to experiment upon, to care for, and have responsibility under/over/inbetween? The land is a substrate for organisms under/over and inbetween it’s surface. It is a double-bind relationship: The land looks after you, and you look after the land. It’s Maaland.* In Finland, many people own small pieces of land and forest, often inherited.. Literally, passed-along family trees. Imagine it may be possible to de-fragment the land, bringing it under common management, like a hard-disk. What would be the protocols of access and retrieval of information? What might be the open-source ‘code’, ‘hardware’ or ‘wetware’ that comes with the land?

Organised within the context of Pixelversity 2013 theme ‘Techno-ecologies’, including resilient agricultural infrastructure, art+bio-science collaborations, agroforestry, open hardware, and Commons management, we make an Open Call for 3 Workshops (1-3 days activity) that engage directly with the above subjects or initiates infrastructure which can support the exploration of these subjects. Please send your proposal, before Friday 7th June. Details below.

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Pixelache Festival

Free ferry tickets to attend Pixelache events in Helsinki next week!

By nathalie | Published: May 6, 2013

We can still give out 20 free Viking Line ferry tickets from Tallinn to Helsinki and back for people based in Tallinn who would like to attend Pixelache events in Helsinki 15-17.5

Please note that we can not cover accommodation costs in Helsinki. Day trips to Helsinki are of course possible.
If you would like to use this opportunity, please send an email by tomorrow (Tuesday) 7.5. to ferry-2013 [-at-] pixelache.ac with the following details:

-Viking Line ferries you are planning to take (Tallinn-Helsinki & Helsinki-Tallinn, note that 21.30 ferry to Tallinn on 17.5 is full!)
-Your full name
-Date of birth
-Nationality
-Postal address

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Pixelache Festival

Seed Bombs Workshop 14.5.

By ulla | Published: May 5, 2013

Seed bombs (originally named seed balls) were an ancient way to sow crops in dense vegetation or in land that is difficult to reach using crop seeds, clay and soil/compost formed into small balls. They were reintroduced within the last century by the Japanese organic farmer and philosopher Masanobu Fukuoka. Since then they have been vastly used as a tool for guerilla gardening all over the world.

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Open calls / Pixelache Festival / Pixelversity

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Call for participants: La máquina de compartir secretos (The machine of sharing secrets) workshop 8-10.5.

By jon | Published: April 24, 2013

What: Workshop and project presentation
When: Wednesday-Friday 8-10.5. from 16:00-19:00
Where: Nuorten toimintakeskus Happi, Sörnäisten rantatie 31, 00500 Helsinki.

Welcome to join a participatory and collaborative workshop project led by Constanza Piña Pardo (Chile), who will help participants develop small flying electro-acoustic transducers, mainly using waste material, to be used as communication system to share secrets in the public space.

During the workshop, the following questions will be considered: Are we free to express ourselves and share information in the public space? Are the new information and communication technologies secure and do they guarantee privacy to the users? From these questions, the group will think together about how our ‘secrets-sharing machine’ will be utilised. On the last day, the workshop will finish with the presentation of Constanza´s project somewhere nearby in public space.

The workshop is free to participate, no particular skills are required, although some soldering of electronic components may be involved. There is a maximum of 15 persons who can take part. The workshop takes place in the ‘Konsensus’ space on 4th floor of Happi Youth Activity Centre.

Sign-up by Tuesday 7th May: Contact jonirigoyen [-at-] gmail.com if you are interested to participate or have questions.

The workshop is part of a programme of events around Pixelache Festival 2013 called Control and Surveillance: The Modern Panopticon, curated by Jon Irigoyen (Pixelache), and is supported with the Knowledge & Experience sharing theme of Pixelversity 2013 programme.

Image credit: Constanza Piña Pardo

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Pixelache Festival

Pixelache Festival 2013 Keynote Speakers

By ulla | Published: April 10, 2013

This year, the festival keynotes focus on the themes of New Media Art & Culture in Asia, Tallinn-Helsinki & Feminist Economics.

Three keynote speakers have been invited to give presentations at three different festival locations: Escher Tsai, founder and artistic director of ‘microplayground’ (Taiwan), associated with D.I.Y./D.I.W.O., open source, creative commons and creative industry, will present in Helsinki on 16th May at the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts. Spatial Intelligence Unit’s and Kristi Grišakov’s keynote is the first public Tallinn-Helsinki twin city presentation and discussion to be held on a common ground, an in-between place – the ferry between the two cities on 17th May. On Naissaar, rumoured to be “Terra Feminarum” (the island’s Estonian name literally translates as ‘island of women’), Mary Mellor, Social Science Professor at Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne (UK) will address issues of alternative, green and feminist economics on the 18th of May.

Learn more about the speakers & topics here!

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Pixelache Festival

metaFestival Technologies Workshop 16th May

By ulla | Published: April 10, 2013

metaFestival Technologies is an open source development project. Instead of computer code, it specializes in instruction-based code that describes new forms of human practice or behavior. The code is defined by text and illustrations, and packaged like programs, giving everyone the possibility to use them, and develop new versions of their own.

The workshop, held on Thursday 16^th May from 1-5 pm as part of the programme of Pixelache Festival 2013, will first familiarize the participants with the idea of behavioral coding. After that, we will together develop prototypes, and test them in the Pixelache environment. Finally, we will create short instructions for the practices that we found interesting and functional, so that we can distribute them for others.

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Open calls / Pixelversity

Call for the Recycling Olympic Games! 6.-12.5.

By agryfp | Published: April 9, 2013

Recycling Olympic Games (ROG) is an alternative sports event that is focused on creative waste-reuse, where international teams compete for the title of “Upcycling Champion of the Gulf of Finland” and a trophy. The Games will be held over a week in early May – 6.-12.5. – consisting of a variety of tasks each team will compete to be 1st, 2nd or 3rd place. The teams will be arranged to represent a country or region (Team Suomi, Team Eesti, and possibly some international teams – depending on recruitment).

Also posted in Open calls, Pixelversity | 1 Response

Open calls / Pixelversity

Call for Participants in Case Pyhäjoki – Artistic reflections on nuclear influence 31.7-12.8.2013

By agryfp | Published: April 9, 2013

‘Case Pyhäjoki: Artistic reflections on nuclear influence’ is a transdisciplinary artistic expedition, production workshop and presentation events in Pyhäjoki, North Ostrobothnia, Finland, 31.7. – 12.8.2013. The sixth nuclear power plant of Finland is planned to be built at Hanhikivi Cape in Pyhäjoki.

The aim of the project is to explore artistic perspectives on the vast changes planned in Pyhäjoki, through the planning of a nuclear power plant at the site, and this way of considering energy production and consuming in the world. Artists can not only reflect upon and depict social phenomena and socio-economical relations, but can also situate themselves in between politics, activism and science. Can art make changes? If so, what would be the creative tools of activism?

For whom: artists, activists, scientists, thinkers and doers + every thing or opinion in between.
Deadline to apply: 5.5.2013, email letter of motivation to Mari Keski-Korsu mkk[-at-] katastro.fi

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Pixelversity

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Trashlab Repair Cafe at Kulmahuone 20.4.

By agryfp | Published: April 7, 2013

Each month we organise and promote a Trashlab Repair Cafe event at a different location. In April, Kulmahuone (Siltasaarenkatu 15) hosts the repair cafe event on Saturday 20.4. from 14-17.

Kulmahuone is an inspiring studio and workspace of freelancers, makers and other creatives in Kallio on Siltasaarenkatu. Teacher and sewing-enthusiast Lotta Remming will host the event, which focuses on repairing and modifying broken or unfitting clothes. We´ll have atleast few sewing machines, threads and needles and other equipment at hand. You can also bring your own tools.

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Ambassador Report / Misc

Resonate 2013 – Report by Krisjanis Rijnieks and Irina Spicaka

By irina | Published: April 2, 2013

Resonate is a platform for networking, information, knowledge sharing and education. It brings together distinguished, world class artists with an opportunity of participating in a forward-looking debate on the position of technology in art and culture.

This is the second year when this festival is held in Belgrade-Serbia. Resonate festival lasts for three days in March and gives regional european and regional public an overview of current situation in the fields of music, visual arts and digital culture. Guest artists, lecturers and other participants are chosen to represent the cutting edge of the contemporary creative industry in Europe.

This year’s Resonate consisted of 16 workshops, 38 lectures, 6 screenings and 8 performances. In this article we will try to share our impressions from this year’s Resonate festival – Resonate 2013.

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