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.
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
“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.
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
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.
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.
‘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.
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.
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.
The 3rd annual Coop Camp unconference in Pispala-Tampere announces this year’s theme: Communications infrastructure (Viestinnän infrastruktuuri in Finnish), and invites you to join and contribute from 16-18th August 2013.
Coop Camp is a trans-disciplinary weekend of events aiming to connect the practice of informal cooperation and formal cooperatives in Pirkanmaa and wider Finland. The event is facilitated by Pispala Cultural Association and Pixelache Helsinki. This is a ‘tietotalkoot’ event, an occasion to learn about cooperatives, to share experiences, stories and practices of different types of cooperativism, as well as a place to ask for co-operators, gathering not only local Finnish cultural perspectives and ambitions, but also those of a more international networked scene.
Open call for participation! Although the Finnish translation may seem technical, the organisers plan an event for sharing examples of communications cooperation/cooperatives & infrastructure building in its broadest sense, from computer and wireless networks, streaming and social media platforms, to booksprints, local newspapers and presence-based forums.
As previously, it will be a 3-day event, with friday evening keynote, saturday unconference day (Finnish+English language contributions welcome), as well as some events such as workshops on sunday (to be confirmed). There is possibility to camp with tent near ‘Hirvitalo’ venue, and some travel support available from Northern Estonia and Southern/Central Finland.
See here for more information & contacts.
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 Participation to engage with us in the above subjects or initiates infrastructure which can support the exploration of these subjects.
We plan to set up situation where people can join for 1-5 days to our “think-tank/tieto-talkoot/land-survey -style” practice-based & information-gathering research.
Contact maaland [-at-] pixelache.ac to express your interest in joining the event before 13.7.
Please note we have a budget which can support some land or sea travel, although local and regional participants are prioritised. There is also the option of making a remote contribution via Skype/Google Hangout or sending video-clip (3-5min) sharing documentation of your ‘maaland’ (i.e. land used for renewable art/+science/+energy experiments.. Or, indeed/importantly, the good living/buen vivir!
METAL SCAVENGING IS ALCHEMY WITH ORE.E REFINERIES
During the “Metal Scavenging is Alchemy” workshop blacksmith Jesse Sipola and artist Eero Yli-Vakkuri from Ore.e Refineries will escort participants into the world of Copper Scavenging between 27-28th June. This waste expedition is the 3rd organised within the context of the Pixelversity 2013 Waste/d theme.
Copper is one of the first metals people have learned to use and it has a lot of applications. Modern cities and lifestyles are dependent on it. It is the best medium for transmitting information and energy. You’ll find it inside walls and computers, conveying electricity and bits. As it doesn’t rust it’s also used in plumbing systems and as a roofing material. “Copper is 100% recyclable without any loss of quality”. Sipola is well tuned to the junkyard scene of Helsinki and has often disassembled engines for copper at his smithy in Espoo. Ore.e Refineries is a company advocating sustainable design and has worked on copper related projects since 2007, and invite you into a 2 day+ workshop process for scavenging copper and making profit!
You are encouraged to start scavenging for copper now(!) contained in junk from the city and homes (watch this video clip tutorial). On the 27th you are invited to Jesse’s smithy workshop in Espoo, and on the 28th, you will join a cycling tour to Tattarinsuo (near Malmi) to cash in the copper with Niemen Romukauppa Oy.
Read more about workshop and register your name & contact to participate in advance of workshop here (Max. 12 participants, first come first served).
Each month we organise and promote a Trashlab Repair Cafe event at a different location. In June, Kääntöpöytä hosts the repair cafe event on Saturday 15.6. from 14-17.
Kääntöpöytä (Turntable) is an urban garden in the middle of old railway yard in Pasila. Equipped with beehive, dry toilet and different alternative, sustainable food growing methods, it is a place for inspiration and information for farming in cities. Kääntöpöytä cafe will be open for coffee and tea, and possibly small snacks & bites from the garden (cash only). Consult this map to help find it if you haven’t been before.
Trashlab repair cafe events are social occasions to gather and try to fix the things you have that are broken, and meet others who care about tinkering, fixing, hacking, and the problem of waste and obsolescence in society. Each time we try to identify someone(s) in advance who have some experience/skills, although everyone is encourage to help each other. On this occasion Albert Laine and Maria Nordlund (Dodo) have offered their expert support in electronics and plant repairs respectively.
See selected documentation of previous repair cafe events in Helsinki. Trashlab is an on going project supported Pixelversity programme in 2013. Register your attendance in related FB event.
Image credit: Dodo ry.
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.
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
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!
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 16th 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.
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).
Misc / Open calls / Recommended events
FIELDS: Call for Participation – Deadline Extended to June 30th 2013
Via Armin Medosh: Fields starts from the assumption that the changing role of art in society is one where it becomes a critical interloper in patterns of social, scientific, and technological transformations. The range of practices which were once subsumed under terms such as media art, digital art, art and technology, art and science, have experienced such growth and diversification that no single term can work as a signpost any more. Fields is about mapping those expanded fields of artistic practices which are contextual seedbeds for ideas and practices aiming at overcoming the crisis of the present, inventing new avenues for future developments by bringing together traditionally separated domains. Fields is about new ecological and transversal trends in art, outlining potential future trajectories for multifarious types of activities that merge politics, technology, ecology, gender, semiology.
Which Fields act as catalysts and underpin those artistic practices which offer the greatest potential for social change towards more imaginative and sustainable ways of living? Which pre-cursors in the last 30-40 years did exist and what can we learn from those often untold stories?
More info: http://rixc.lv/14/
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