DORKBOT : SYDNEY

What: An exhibition of work by people doing strange things with electricity. Something between an art exhibition and a science fair featuring work by members of Dorkbot Sydney, a regular meeting for people doing strange things with electricity. Bringing together artists, musicians, engineers and programmers, presenting a collection of interactive installations, web art, generative art, sound art and electronic sculptures.

Where: Serial Space, 33 Wellington St, Chippendale (www.serialspace.org)

When: Opening 6-8pm, Wednesday February 10th. Open 12-5pm, Thursday 11th - Saturday 13th February

Who: Warren Armstrong, Tega Brain, Samuel Bruce, Amanda Cole, Melissa Hunt, Lukasz Karluk + Gentleforce and Gavin Smith. Curated by Dorkbot Syd ‘Overlord’ Pia van Gelder.

What: “People doing strange things with electricitiy”.
Where: Serial Space (www.serialspace.org), 33 Wellington St Chippendale.
When: Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010. 19:00 for a 19:30 speak off.
How: It’s free! < Bring along your own drinks and food!
Why: Because you know you want to.

HAPPY DECADE DORKS! The first meeting of 2010 is PACKED! So bring your note pads and beerrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

/ / / / | | | | P R E S E N T E R S | | | | \ \ \ \

RENE CHRISTIAN + ASTRID LORANGE : GEOMETRIES OF ATTENTION

Geometries of Attention is a collaborative project by René Christen and Astrid Lorange, comprising three interactive installations. Each work looks at how a ‘poem’ might be produced through the collaborative processes of noticing, engaging and playing. When a participant interacts with a work — touches, manipulates, provokes, corrupts — the work ‘happens’. Without interactivity, the poems exist only as fields of potential.
In one work, five poem-objects are the playthings for an experiment in attractive and repulsive dynamics. In another, a sound poem is generated from the touch of fingertips across a wall’s surface. In the third, four FM transmitters provide the material for an improvisational headphone radiophonics (tuning between four channels — a blue coat, a parasite, a philadelphia and a lovepoem). Together, the three works tune the geometries of attention so that inquisitive impulses like ‘what is this?’ and ‘how does this work?’ and ‘how is this meaningful?’ — questions that are central to our playful interrogation of the world — become the compositional impulses of poetry.
René Christen has designed and built the soft and hardwares for each work, and Astrid Lorange has composed the poetry works. This project is supported by the Australia Council for the Arts’ Emerging Writers/Illustrators Initiative.

Geometries of Attention opens at Serial Space for exhibition on Wednesday 3rd February (6-8) and will be open to the public until the following Sunday. Come along and see the show! For more details: http://serialspace.org/archives/geometries-of-attention/

CHRISTIAN MORAGA

Christian Moraga, owner and sole hacker of [cubisteffects], will be running through effects pedal circuit-bending and modifications.
In an industry where guitar tone and sound are highly scrutinised and revered, [cubisteffects] aims to turn a standard effect pedal into an instrument of creativity.
Be it through oscillation, white noise or sheer volume, Christian will aim to explain, and demonstrate, the place of noise-makers and customised sounds in a world of boutique stompboxes and instruments.
Christian is doing a 2 hour hands on workshop this weekend at SerialSpace. Please find details here http://serialspace.org/archives/pedal-workshop-serial-space/
www.cubisteffects.com

ROHAN STORY : EXERCISE BIKE COMPUTER GAME GENERATOR

The original motivation came from trying to solve several of the worlds’ problems with one device. The problems in mind were: Lack of fitness / obesity, power production, transport, and computer game addiction. The solution which came to mind was a bike with an integrated generator/motor linked to a computer game. The concept being that you can only play a physical computer game until you are physically tired. Then as a bonus, you’ve stored your energy for later use. And of course the platform is mobile, so you can ride it to you mates place or the park to play with your peers.
The first attempt (as shown in picture kindly supplied by Pia) was a Fisher and Paykel washing machine motor strapped to a bike and stand. This first version produced a lot of power (up to 600w, depending on the rider), but it was big and clunky and never made it back from Dorkbot (as Rohan’s leg’s where too tired to cart it back home on a trailer connected to the back of his road bike). This second version is simply a better version of the first. Instead of an external generator, it now has a Bionx hub motor system (thanks to GreenSpeed). I.e. no need ride one bike with a generator system on a trailer behind it! The power now goes toward charging the Bionx battery, such that it can be used at a later point in time when it’s too hot for peddling. The software is currently PC based (via Phidgets IO board). The end goal would be to connect to an Android based phone via Blue tooth (and maybe a charging dock….e.g. a “Nexus one” phone). You may have heard of the GreenWheel (which is now called the Copenhagen Wheel) from MIT, well, it’s pretty much the same thing, but with a focus on gaming! All game ideas welcome. Assume that you have steering, brakes, gears, load control, and measure power output (the details of how these will be captured are still under development).

DAN CONWAY

Dan Conway will present his Audio to Fire Visualiser. Otherwise known as a Rubens Tube this device uses the acoustic properties of ’standing waves’ to create patterns in flame provided by and LPG tank and the device itself. GAS, AUDIO, FIRE!!!!!!

Live long and prosper

What: “People doing strange things with electricity”.
Where: Black & Blue Gallery, www.blackandbluegallery.com.au, 302/267-271 Cleveland Street Redfern
When: Friday 4th December, 5:30 - 6:30
Cost: FREE!

Dorkbot will be having a special presentation by Japanese electronic artist Daito Manabe in conjunction with the opening of Spooky Action at a Distance, a show curated by Amelia Groom at Black & Blue Gallery. The show hosts a selection of ten experimental video works by Japanese artists including the work of Daito Manabe.

After working as a system engineer and a programmer, Daito Manabe graduated from IAMAS (International Academy of Media Arts and Sciences) in 2004.
Redefining the existent media and technologies from unique angles, he has been active in various fields, such as art, design, and even research and development. He produces sounds, images, and light by analyzing and transforming numerical values gained from various sensors and input devices.

He is internationally active as a Turntablist and a Sound Artist using surround/oscillation/super low frequency technology and pursuing sensual peculiarity, commonality and interaction.

For more info http://www.daito.ws/en

Daito Manabe is in Sydney for Kirin Big In Japan www.biginjapan.com.au

The final Dorkbot for 2009 is a more informal gathering we like to call Pub-bot.

What: “People doing strange things with electricity” drinking beer
Where: Shakespeare Hotel, 200 Devonshire St Surry Hills
When: Tuesday 1st of December, 7:00pm

Bring along contraptions and whatnot to pass around if you like. But come along to hang out with the dorky folk over a beer and a 10 dollar pub meal! We will be upstairs. Hoping to nab the large table at the back.

For all those pining for the next meetup… it’s scheduled for December the 1st. More details to come!

DORKBOT SYDNEY EXHIBITION APPLICATION

Dorkbot-Syd is having a group show at the Sydney Artist Run Innitiative Serial Space. The show will open on the 10th of February, 2010 and will run for a week, until Sunday the 14th of February. 

We would like you to be involved! We are accepting applications for all kinds of work Dorkbot related. The aim of the show is to exhibit work by “people doing strange things with electricity”. Submissions should not be limited to artworks only. Picture something between an art exhibition and a science fair. Some projects might involve robotics, installation, interactive installations, electronic sculpture, screen based works, audio instruments and performances. What is appealing about Dorkbot and would be great to ‘exhibit’ is the versatility of work that is generated from our diverse community.

Submissions of proposed work are due by 27th of November. Please download the application here for more details.dorkbot sydney exhibition application

What: “People doing strange things with electricity”.
Where: Serial Space, 33 Wellington St Chippendale.
When: Tuesday 27th of October, 19:00 for 19:30 speak-off.
Cost: FREE!

Back to our regular scheduled monthly event!

P R E S E N T E R S

JOHN TONKIN

nervous system from John Tonkin on Vimeo.

‘nervous system’ is made up of twenty light and sound emitting poles that respond to their surroundings and each other. Each pole can react to temperature, light, sound and motion. Together they form a complex “biological” system that reflects both the environmental conditions in the park and the playful gestures of its visitors.

John Tonkin is a Sydney based artist who has been playing around with computers since the late 1970’s. ‘nervous system’ was made for the Gold Coast City Council as part of the Southport Broadwater Parklands redevelopment. John teaches within the Digital Cultures Program, University of Sydney and is represented by BREENSPACE, Sydney.

HARRIET BIRKS + SNOW CRASH

‘Snow Crash’ is a virtual landscape that recalls early flight simulators and low-fi computer graphics.
It is a finite world of reduced planes akin to sci-fi concepts of virtual worlds such as the ‘meta-verse’ in Neal Stephenson’s ‘Snow Crash’ or the ‘auto-verse’ in Greg Egan’s ‘Permutation City’… a parallel universe to Google Earth, World of Warcraft and Second Life. The audio track crackles with static interference suggesting possible radio transmissions from unseen origins. Pulsing black spheres float eerily in the sky. Clusters of quartz grow from mysterious ruins, resembling the ‘Crystal World’ of J.G. Ballard. In a simultaneous glance back at the past and to post-apocalyptic narratives of the future it provokes questions about our current direction and our changing technological landscape. ‘Snow Crash’ is a place of mysterious energy, a world that is self-organised from the chaos of white noise into a drifting static dream.
Harriet Birks is a Sydney based new media artist. She works with Audio Visual technologies and is a lecturer of animation at the College of Fine Arts, UNSW.
www.twodeadvoices.tk

S H O W + T E L L

We invite people to bring along projects they are working on or any other cool things to show in a free-for-all at the end of the night. This is a great time to talk to people about things that are coming up, events and what not. Bring in something you have found, something you have broken and show us what you’ve got!

NEWS : DORKBOT GROUP SHOW FEBRUARY 2010
We are also going to be having a Dorkbot Group show in February 2010. Think of it as somewhere between a gallery show and a science fair. There will be an open call for submissions in the next week and if you would like to hear some details about the show Pia van Gelder will be talking about how to apply and what we are looking for (pretty much anything awesome!).

Be there AND be square.

WHAT: People doing strange things with electricity
WHERE: Sydney University, Verge Festival Tent
WHEN: TOMORROW!!! Tuesday 8th September, 20:00 - 22:00
COST: FREE
This month’s Dorkbot is traveling to Sydney University for Verge Festival with 3 presenters… we hope you can come along.

P R E S E N T E R S

GAVIN SMITH from ROBOTS & DINOSAURS
Gavin Smith is from the new Sydney Hackerspace Dinosaurs and Robots, “a collaborative space for people to share tools, equipment, skills, and ideas – and to learn from and teach each other”. He will speaking about the collective and their recent project Makerbot, an open source 3d printer.

ROSLYN HELPER
Roslyn, on of the Verge Festival co-ordinators will be presenting some ideas that she is working on to do with recycling old computer parts and making a series of “do nothing” machines.

PIA VAN GELDER
The Dorkbot Sydney Overlord will be talking about…. DORKBOT! (WOOT!)

For more details on the event and the festival go here.

What: “People doing strange things with electricity”.
Where: Serial Space, 33 Wellington St Chippendale.
When: Tuesday 11th August, 19:00 for 19:30 speak-off.
Cost: FREE! < Bring along drinks and nibblies if you so wish.

This month we are holding Dorkbot a little early to welcome interstate guests BioKino who are performing at Carraigeworks from the 13th to the 15th of August in their show Grind House Alley. And also to follow on with a show that opens today and runs from 11-6 every day until Sunday at Serial Space of Adam Synnott’s “Light Interrupted”.

P R E S E N T E R S

ADAM SYNNOTT WITH JASON LAM + LIGHT INTERRUPTED

Light Interrupted is a rear projected multi-touch display. Using a combination of Touch Designer and Max/MSP the screen will be displaying a muti-touch 3d painter/modeller, an RSS fed weather globe, some reactive grass and a 3d fish tank.

Since Graduating with a Bachelor of Dance Performance from the Adelaide Centre for the Arts in 2004 Adam has worked with Leigh Warren and Dancers, Chunky Move, Australian Dance Theatre, Troy Mundy, Frances D’ath, Alison Currie, Sue Healey, Barebones Collective, Amanda Phillips and Michael Parmenter.

As a New Media Artist he has worked on various projects around Australia such as Fiona Malone’s LALA Land, Alison Currie’s 42a, Healey’s As You Take Time and The Curiosities and his own work with Jason Lam includes Extirpation a reactive procedural forest installation which premiered at the This is not Art Festival in 2007 and Bone Sample a new media dance work. He is currently in development of a new dance media work with Alisdair Macindoe.

Adam has also composed sound scores for projects and companies, Leigh Warren and Dancers, Troy Mundy, Fiona Malone, Peter Sheedy. His compositions for Dance Films include Michael Carter’s Principal Role and Intimate/Dation and Paul Zivkovich’s Then Remember. He is currently in development with Lisa Griffiths and Craig Bary composing for their show “A Side to One”

BIOKINO + THE LIVING SCREEN

Dominant cinema is being challenged and the moving-image culture redefined by much contemporary digital-media art. Through digital interactivity, such current art practice expands beyond the traditional spectator-spectacle relations, often by extending creative control to the audience. Digital expansion has led an evolution in cinema. The Living Screen shares the same artistic objectives of much contemporary cine-art, to deconstruct traditional cinematic forms that impose ideological constraints and participate in the creation of a new poetics. However The Living Screen’s technical and formal strategies go beyond the digital by introducing the biological. Its screen is alive! From kino-eye to bio-kino, The Living Screen is a biologically as well as digitally expanded cinema.

The Living Screen operates via the Bio-Projector. The Bio-Projector miniaturizes the digital movie to 500 µ (microns) in size (approximately half a millimetre) and projects it onto the living micro-screen (individual biological cells). The living screens, grown from varying tissue (or cell) cultures, react, transform and eventually die, contorting the projected nano-movie and confronting the spectator with issues such as actuality and virtuality. Each living screen is symbolic and symbiotic in a different way. The properties of these screens conceptually inform the content of the projected movies[i], making direct use of cinemas heritage[ii] as a means to critically and aesthetically reflect upon the cinematic experience. By conjoining the conditions of the digital with the biological, The Living Screen manifests a paradox, a mixed reality, which extends towards a new mode of representation. This is cinematic evolution.

Guy Ben-Ary is an artist and a researcher whose work uses emerging medias and in particular biologically related technologies (tissue culture, tissue engineering, electrophysiology and optics). Ben-Ary is an artist in resident in SymbioticA – The centre of excellence in Biological Arts at the University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, since 2000. He specializes in microscopy, biological & digital imaging, tissue engineering and artistic visualization of biological data. His Main research areas are cybernetics, robotics and the interface of biological material to manmade devices. He is a member of the core SymbioticA Research Group and spend 2006 working as an artist in resident (research fellow) in the Steve Potter Laboratory, Neuro-emgineering lab, bio-medical school in the Georgia Institute of technology where along with Phil Gamblen he developed Silent Barrage that won the ARS electronic Honorary award, 2009. Guy collaborated with the Tissue Culture & Art Project for 4 years (1999 - 2003). Guy has exhibited and published nationally and internationally. Among other in MoMa NYC, Eyebeam Gallary NYC, Exit Art NYC, ARS Electronica, ACMI, ACP Sydney, First Moscow Biennale, Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art and more…

Tanja Visosevic [aka. Madam TV, tanyavision, tanya V & Citizen TV] is an interdisciplinary artist, film critic/theorist and educator. Her art projects employ the technologies and strategies of moving image, performance and bio-art to explore the cultural and philosophical terrains that consume her.
Much of her obsessions deal with the Life and Death Instincts, Identity Politics and the side effects of New Technologies. Often these themes surface in the guise of the Uncanny or other unworldly realms of Paranormal Phenomena where the imagination can undergo a transcendental experience.

S H O W + T E L L

We invite people to bring along projects they are working on or any other cool things to show in a free-for-all at the end of the night. This is a great time to talk to people about things that are coming up, events and what not. Bring in something you have found, something you have broken and show us what you’ve got!

See you later accumulators.

Where: Serial Space, 33 Wellington St Chippendale.
When: Tuesday 21st July, 19:00 for 19:30 speak-off.
Cost: FREE! < Bring along drinks and nibblies if you so wish.

P R E S T E N T E R S :

D.V. Rogers and Parkfield Interventional EQ Fieldwork (PIEQF)

During the US summer months of 02008 D.V.Rogers realised a seismic controlled, machine earthwork in the remote township of Parkfield, California. Described as part machine, part earthwork, part performance, the Parkfield Interventional EQ Fieldwork (PIEQF) involved excavating a 75ft x 30 x 6ft trench near the central San Andreas Fault. Assembled at the base of this crudely landscaped site an 8000lb earthquake shake table machine was interfaced with real-time reported seismic waves.

Collaborating with US Geological Survey seismologists and machine art programmers across three continents, this non-fictional art-science installation operated autonomously for ninety one days between the 18th June and 16th November 02008. Rogers will discuss the software development behind PIEQF and how seismic cowboys work with heavy machinery in the middle of earthquake country.

http://pieqf.allshookup.org

Andrew Handmer and his Jet Engine

Andrew Handmer has worked on everything from EFTPOS machines to race cars, to underwater drilling machines - now masquerading as “The Engine Whisperer” and working on pretty much anything electrical or mechanical. Andrews presentation is a demonstration of one of his various projects - a home built jet engine. It’s based around an old Mitsubishi turbocharger and the combustion chamber from a Rolls Royce Dart turbine engine. The aim is to eventually propel some sort of vehicle with it.

www.enginewhisperer.com
video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsM5OjX-oN4

SHOW & TELL

We invite people to bring along projects they are working on or any other cool things to show in a free-for-all at the end of the night. This is a great time to talk to people about things that are coming up, events and what not. Bring in something you have found, something you have broken and show us what you’ve got!

Be there AND be square