Where: Serial Space, 33 Wellington St Chippendale

When: Tuesday 27th July, 19:00 for a 19:30 “Speakoff”

After a month of crazy parties and performances we’re back with the regular Dorkbot you know and love. This month we bring you two presentations from local Dorks.

FREDERICK RODRIGUES + HEAVY METAL ORCHESTRA

Frederick Rodrigues will be presenting on how to void your warranty and break the end user licence agreement on a whole bunch of stuff at once and end up with a singing leaf-blower, a chainsaw saxophone and a rhythm section that can also renovate your house. This is what happens when you listen to Weird Al’s hardware store song too much.

LEIGH RUSSELL

Once in a while I find myself completing a couple of projects out of the many ones that are slowly doing nothing but accumulating mess in my studio. These completed projects along with a couple in various stages of completion will feature in my presentation. First up is a glass tube filled with polystyrene balls and a subwoofer speaker at each end facing each other through the tube, as you might imagine this results in some very interesting patterns produced in the foam balls when modulated with an oscillator. Since I am presenting this I thought it would be fitting to also demonstrate the crazy antics of non-Newtonian fluid on a speaker. If you are unfamiliar with this trick then think alien tentacles spawned by sound. Then I will demonstrate the latest build of my Electrolyzer cell. This apparatus uses electricity to split water into two parts Hydrogen and one part Oxygen. I will inflate a balloon and explode it to demonstrating the flammable nature of this gas mix. Also I will try, possibly unsuccessfully to crash a computer from the electromagnetic pulse that happens from the combustion of the exploding gas. If successful we should have an insanely loud explosion and the blue screen of death, and yes I will be supplying earplugs. Lastly I will show some analogue Synth modules that I have built and a 3D skull that I modelled and then had 3D printed. See you there.

Come one. Come all!

THE NINGEN DOGS ORCHESTRA
http://ningendog.com

The Ningen Dogs Orchestra is an orchestra of creepy cute “human” dogs barking and crawling to the light and sound of their three conductors.
Ningen Dogs, Human Dogs in Japanese, is an art project with small battery operated toy dogs, transformed into naked human beings.The Ningen Dogs Orchestra was formed in early 2009 in Tokyo as a live performance that integrates the light-activated Ningen Dogs and three conductors: Stéphane Shibatsuji-Perrin (toy guitar, laptop), Utako Shibatsuji-Perrin (Magic Wand, noise) and Yosei Takahashi (drums).

MIHA CIGLAR

http://www.ciglar.mur.at/projects.html

Sonic beams / Acoustic shadows is an improvised composition played on a non-contact haptic interface. The audio generation is based on a “no-input mixing board” concept. The primary feedback loops generated with the mixing board are projected through the PA system and at the same time they are used used to modulate (AM) an ultrasonic sinus carrier. The amplitude-modulated signal is driving an array of 97 ultrasonic transducers arranged on a spherically shaped surface, so that the acoustic radiation is focused at the sphere centre. The result is a relatively strong and spatio-temporally precise tactile reproduction of the projected audio signal. A simple ultrasonic receiver is used used to pick-up the sonic beam and is placed in front of the transducer array – 20cm behind the focal point. By moving his hand in the focal point region, the musician is acoustically shadowing the receiver. The signal which is picked up by the ultrasonic receiver is fed directly into the input of the same mixing board. When the musician is playing the instrument, i.e. moving his hand around the focal point of the ultrasonic beam, he is indirectly manipulating the intensity of the receivers output. This ultrasonic signal is generating turbulences in the primary oscillation circuit (audible frequencies) of the mixing board. As a result a wide variety of acoustic material can be generated, merely by positioning ones hand between the transducers and the receiver.

Both artists are here to participate in the New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME) Symposium which is being held at UTS from the 15th to the 18th of June. http://www.nime2010.org/

Later in the week on Thursday the 17th there will be a special High Reflections evening at Serial with Atau Tanaka! For details http://serialspace.org/archives/high-reflections-10/

These two evenings should be a special treat for Dorkbot nerds and Experimental Music geeks alike!!!

Creative Sydney has enlisted the Lit Nerds from Even Books and Electrical Nerds to UNITE for a party at the MCA!!! Well, these dreams would be dust without Isaac Asimov’s seminal 1950s collection of short stories, I, Robot. In it, he coined the now infamous Three Laws of Robotics (basically, robots can’t ever hurt us, even if we’re heaps mean, ha-ha!) and a sweet style of now rather kitsch techno-science fiction. There is a machine-made best friend ‘Robby’, a giant talking robo-head, the planet Mars, a tight-lipped robo-psychologist called Dr Susan Calvin and more.

There will be live performances and installations by:
Toydeath
James Nichols’ Dubtable
Dan Stocks’ Radar Synth
as well as a Robot dance-off, and a robot race!!! It’s going to be epic!!!

The MCA hall is the place to be this Wednesday night so register now to save your spot: http://www.creativesydney.com.au/events/sydney-sessions/i-robot

A fantastically well rounded program for this autumn meet-up.

P R E S E N T E R S

HIROFUMI UCHINO
The gear for noise! Introducing hand-made equipments to make “noise” by Hirofumi Uchino:Australian based Japanese artist who creates “noise” related performances, objects and exhibitions with wide range skills and methods. Founder of “Lastgasp Art Laboratories” and “Defektro”.
LAL website: http://lalweb.com
DEFEKTRO website: http://defektro.com

ALEX DAVIES
Alex Davies is going to discuss 2 projects that incorporate physical computing for childcare (The Robaupair) and entertainment (Häusliches Glück). A must for downtrodden parents and augmented reality enthusiasts alike!
more about Alex Davies’ work: http://schizophonia.com/

BE THERE AND BE SQUARE

WOOT! It’s levelgasms and Wii-offs for a Wii spectacular month!

P R E S E N T E R S

JONATHAN PAPERT (Papst*r Audio Electronics) - Wii Nunchuck Noiser

In the world of 21st Century instruments - who still wants a bunch of knobs?? Well the Wii Nunchuck Noiser still has plenty of knobs but also assigns an element of control to this Wii accessory. Shake your fist to open a new world of noise! Based on the 4ms Noise Swash. http://4mspedals.com/swash.php

GEORGE KHUT + Thinking Through the Body

George Khut (Doctorate of Creative Arts, UWS) is an artist whose works combine interactive art, audience participation and story-sharing. He has been a guest lecturer and tutor at the School of Design, DAB, UTS, with Associate Professor Albertus Bongers. Recent exhibitions include ‘Enfoldings & Discolsures’ at UTS Gallery, 2008 and ‘The Heart Library Project’ at St. Vincent’s Public Hospital, Darlinghurst 2009. http://georgekhut.com/

Thinking Through The Body is a research ensemble led by George Khut and Lizzie Muller, with Jonathan Duckworth, Somaya Langley, Lian Loke, Garth Paine, Maggie Slattery and Catherine Truman. Paying attention to the experience of the body is the central activity of this project - weaving together approaches from interactive art and Feldenkrais somatic-bodywork. The ensemble create situations that invite participation, reframing our experience of ourselves and our relationship to the world around us - through use of various body-sensing technologies, image, sound and spoken word.

George will talk about his recent exhibition at St. Vincent’s Public Hospital, his work with bio-sensing and biofeedback, and some of the approaches to interactive art he has been developing as part of the Thinking Through The Body research group.

Come and see the interactive exhibition at Dablab UTS which ends this Friday the 26th! http://www.dab.uts.edu.au/dablab

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!

AYBABTU

The Dorkbot Sydney Group Show came to a close last weekend. Here is some documentation from the show.

Our very first exhibition a la Dorkbot in Sydney has been very well recieved. We had a very successfull opening with what has been said to be the largest crowd at Serial Space yet! Check out our flickr page to see some photos of the event.

We followed exhibition with a closing talk on the sunday with all the artists.

THE ROOM SHEET

Warren Armstrong
Twitterphonicon

Web application running on a computer with headphones for private listening.

The Twitterphonicon is an endless, self-generating musical piece created entirely from Twitter updates. It searches for tweets that are either top-trending, or contain the hashtag #twitphon, and turns them into musical sequences. Bring your mobile along to the show, post a tweet with that tag, and hear the music it makes.

Tega Brain
Niche

Interactive Projection in Processing

Niche is an interactive projection. It is a generative and reactive animation built with Processing. Different plant species are programmed to grow in the projected environment however each species requires specific conditions to grow and survive. Varying growth conditions are defined by a participant’s interaction with the work. It is the participant’s behaviour that creates different digital niches to be potentially occupied. The system explores interactivity and ecological issues such as sensitivity, competition and symbiosis.

Samuel Bruce
Art is great to waste time before dying

Electronics, plywood, bone.

The work functions as memento mori and addresses certain vague worries regarding the social utility of artmaking. How do you stay warm in the cold shadow of death? 

Amanda Cole

Programmable Light Metronome

Electronics by Martin Dewhurst (BScEng, MIEAust, MIET), recording of Vibraphone Theory 3 by Nuno Aroso. LED lights, Arduino microcontroller, computer, headphones.

The Programmable Light Metronone is a light instrument being developed for the live performance of my rhythmically complex music compositions. It may be used as a substitute conductor or click track, where performers are synchronizing acoustic instruments to a sequenced electronic music part. Made from two sets of modified LED Christmas lights, a computer running Max/MSP controls the on/off flashing of each group of lights in each string. For this exhibition, the Programmable Light Metronome is used to show the two simultaneous tempos used in a composition Vibraphone Theory 3, for vibraphone and sequenced sine tone interference beats. In a live performance, one light string would be used as a metronome and the other would visually show the separate pulse of the sine tone accompaniment. 

Melissa Hunt
Light Speed Sound #2

Record player, records, lamp, light dependent resistors, table, electricity. Special thanks to Nick Wishart.

Light Speed Sound #2 experiments with adding light and user interaction to corrupt the predefined mojo of a well-known object. 
The record player has been modified with light dependent resistors; the speed of the motor is affected by how much light reaches the LDRs.  Altering the nature of how an object works can change its identity.  As for this record player its initial purpose as a player has morphed into an object that can be played as an instrument. Now interaction is possible, and the viewer becomes the performer as their hands move above the turntable.  The gestures are personal and ephemeral as they play with light and sound.
And what has this to do with electricity? The manipulation of resistance in voltage and current is a curious business, with curious outcomes: it makes people do strange things. 

Try it out, by yourself or with a friend: use the LDR’s to manually control the speed of the record player – faster, slower and reverse. As your hands cut the light between the lamp and the resistors hear the changes in sound and current resistance. The action almost feels like you’re stroking sound or scratching with light.


Lukasz Karluk + Gentleforce
tr-IO

Application written in OpenFrameworks. Interactive table - iSight firewire camera, fluorescent lighting, acrylic table surface, drafting film, programmable LEDs. Reactivision Fiducial Markers.

tr-IO is a generative visual application that produces ever changing motion and form. The elementary building block of this visual piece is the triangle, simple in appearance and geometry but one that can be combined to create beautifully complex geometric forms.

Users are encouraged to explore the infinite combinations through a tangible interface, an interactive table with triangular pyramid objects which when moved change the properties of the visual output.

THANKS!
Thanks to all the artists for there amazing work and dedication.
Thanks to Serial Space for having us.
Thanks to all the people who came to our show.

See you next month for an ‘ordinary’ dorkbot meet up.

What: Hear the participants from Dorkbot Syd Group Show discuss their work inside and out before we bump out in the afternoon.

Who: Warren Armstrong, Tega Brain, Samuel Bruce, Amanda Cole, Melissa Hunt, Lukasz Karluk & Gentleforce.

Dorkbot Syd Group Show is 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 Street Chippendale.

When:Sunday 14th of February, 12 noon.

Valentines day is for losers! Dorkbot Artist Talk is for WINNERS!

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.

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

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