Tag Archives: media ecology

seminar: Alternative Economy Cultures at Pixelache09

The ‘Alternative Economy Cultures’ (alt.econ.cult) programme on April 3rd & 5th brings together leading international and Finnish thinkers, cultural practitioners and activists, to present alternative economic visions.
The seminar aims to tackle not just the financial, but the social, cultural, institutional, human, material, emotional and intellectual forms of capital. Not just about individual gain, boosting, balancing or bail-outs, but common good, peer-to-peer, shared wealth and appropriate reward for effort involved.
Cultural production and social-networking, especially the digital online versions of the recent decade, have promoted new ideas of wealth, opportunity, scarcity, and exchange. Importantly, it also reminds us of old ones. Surrounding those ideas are developing practices, cultures and entrpreneurship.

all info: seminar alternative economy cultures

media ecologies continued …

With the urban garden project we want to blend the natural and the digital world in one and the same eco-system. Can natural evolution be generated, controlled, enhanced or imagined in artworks? Is our environment programmable? How does the fusion of natural and artificial matter produce new organisms, new environments, new natures? How does technology animate nature and space, and how do users and programs animate matter?

workshop — part1 : the natural setting/ designing the urban garden
friday, march 6 – 10 am @ okno
This is a Fo.am/OKNO collaboration!

Part I: the natural setting (the urban garden, permaculture)
Can we talk about ‘permaculture’, as an intrinsic part of this media-ecological system? What is Permaculture? Permaculture is about designing human environments that have the stability, diversity and resilience of natural ecosystems. Permaculture integrates renewable energy systems, energy efficiency, food/gardening systems, natural building, rainwater harvesting, urban planning along with the economic, political and social policies that make sustainable living possible and practical.
Continue reading →

fablab Pabel

The Fab Lab (fabrication laboratory) is a small scale workshop with the tools to make almost anything. This includes technology-enabled products generally perceived as limited to mass production.
While Fab Labs have yet to compete with mass production and its associated economies of scale in fabricating widely distributed products, they have already shown the potential to empower individuals to create smart devices for themselves. These devices can be tailored to local or personal needs in ways that are not practical or economical using mass production.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fab_lab


Hitendra Kuralkar and Hiren Panchal from Fablab Pabel.

Demystifying Science. The method of science-observation, measurement, recording, classification, documentation, exchange of information with others, making hypothesis, testing hypothesis by further experiments and observation. These methods of science are not only possible in every day life but are financially very relevant to all sections of society.
At Vigyan Ashram (FabLab Pabel), we encourage invention and innovation and put it to use. We also try to develop technology for income generation. Many of the technologies are developed by our students, who are dropouts according to the classical education system.

fablab Pabel: technology document
fablab Pabel on the web

pad.ma archive test

Woman in pink with a covered head is joined by her husband. They stand next to each other and are then asked to sit down by camera person. Children in the background.
Husband and wife sort packets of plastic bags inside their home as their grand children watch television in the background. Another man comes to help them out. He takes a stack of packets, walks outside the house and loads them onto the cycle. Various zoom ins to the piles of plastic.

http://pad.ma/Vg9e8oby 00:03:20.000 to 00:03:58.0
– Do you also help him?
– Yes.
– Actually, I have to go back to my village.
– She’s asking you (the wife) if you help him sort the bags.
– Yes (laughing).
– So then help him instead of hiding behind him.
– Yes! That’s it!
– Take those other bags out.
– Is he putting those (bags) on the cycle?
– Yes.

link to all movies with the keyword ‘technology’
link to all movies with the keyword ‘Bombay’

xmedk//okno session :: sustainable networks

The okno-session on sustainable networks spreads out over the totality of the xmedk-media ecologies week, from april 20 till april 25.
This workshop week at PAF, St.Erme/FR is the final touch of a month-long research into sustainable meshnetworks. It’s the cherry on the cake of a long research.

At the St.Erme/Okno studio we organise mini-workshops that cover following topics:
– setting up a mesh network with the asus-routers
– flashing the asus routers with linux (kamikaze)
– connecting arduino’s to the asus
– the choice of sensors and connecting them to the arduinos
– reading and interpreting the sensordata with python
– power the network with alternative energy:
– build a custommade windmill for the physical location
– integrate existing solarpanels
– run artistic projects on the sustainable network

pictures of the xmedk-st.erme-sessions in april 2008:
xmedk – day01, 2008
xmedk – day02, 2008
xmedk – day03, 2008
or you can download the pdf of the sustainable networks-report by clicking this link.

Continue reading →

xmedk // st.erme, france

“[T]here are other things that need doing, and one of these is the development of an imaginary of technology, an understanding of its poetics and a testing manifestation of those poetics in ways that allow us to think and sense through what that technology is.” — Matt Fuller

Following the path laid out in “Towards an Ecology of MediaEcology” FoAM, Nadine and OKNO will conclude the .x-med-k. series with a final workshop in Saint Erme, France.

In this workshop, the three organisations explore media and media technologies as an ecosystem, deeply networked. At an isolated location in the Champagne region, participants will gather for a week of workshops, reflection and practical sessions around the themes of networks, collaborative projects and Tech-Nouveau. The workshop will take an ‘Open Space’ approach, and all participants will be expected to take an active role in shaping their activities.

OKNO will bring it’s wireless routers to craft a local wireless network extended to serve as an artistic medium. FoAM will undertake hands-on experiments with simulated biological systems, experiments which will be extended along with ad-hoc discussions regarding complexity, whole-systems, patterns, biomorphism and biomimetics in physical and simulated lifeforms and ecosystems. Participants are also invited to contribute to collaborative projects, developed throughout the week, guided by Nadine.

The .x-med-k.workshop-series is a collaboration between OKNO, Nadine and FoAM, supported by VAF (Vlaams Audiovisueel Fonds).