The installation hello process! will be developed at Sign during an Artist in Residency from 03.03.08 until 03.04.08.

Openlab Groningen

Openlab Groningen, 11, 13, 18, 20, 25 and 27 March 2008, between 14.00 and 18.00
Sign, Winschoterkade 10, Groningen, NL
Costs: free!

Join us for 6 afternoon sessions of Openlab Groningen! The Openlab is a workspace equipped with 6 workstations running a wide variety of open source software for artists and designers. The goal of the lab is to kick start a community in Groningen that brings together local artists/designers/programmers that work with or are interested to work with open source software.

Special session the 13th of March: Dave Griffiths’ crash course Fluxus!!! http://www.pawfal.org/dave

The lab in Groningen will kick off with the 3 day workshop ‘hello process’. After the workshop the lab will be open for 3 weeks on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 14.00 until 18.00. The lab is open to everyone interested in making, researching, exchanging, learning or simply working, having a (lot of) coffee and a chat. Permanent inhabitants of the lab: ‘hello process’ artists Aymeric Mansoux and Marloes de Valk from digital art collective GOTO10.

Openlab Groningen will be the third European Openlab. The first Openlab started 3 years ago in London. The lab organises performances, exhibitions and meetings. The project stimulates the use of open source software through the organisation of events. The second lab in existence is Openlab Glasgow. It started a year ago, and is a collective that is open to artists who are interested in the use of technology within their arts practice. The group is based on the sharing and exchange of skills, collaborative projects and the exchange of ideas.

In Rand We Trust!

‘hello process’ lectures: in rand() we trust!
13 March 2008, 20.00 – 22.30
Sign, Winschoterkade 10, Groningen
Guests: Florian Cramer, Arie Altena, Adger Stokvisch, Aymeric Mansoux, and Marloes de Valk

During this evening we will be questioning the nature and purpose of generative art. With 4 lectures and an open talk, we investigate whether or not generative art is indeed an art form or just a technique. Is it possible to make a distinction between generative processes, applications of generative processes and generative processes as a conceptual ground for software art? Does the term generative art apply to screen savers, alife, fractal art,, conceptual software/code art and poetry alike?

Is it even important to make this distinction? The term generative art has been around for a while now, and is applied to extremely diverse works and opposite artistic approaches. No more! It’s time to fork! (again!)

The tactics of generative art – Florian Cramer
Despite frequent claims to the contrary, artistic employment of generative system is never simply a reflection of structures or issues formally inherent in them – such as self-organization or emergence -, but linked to artistic politics. In other words, even systems supposedly removed from intention are intentional depending on their programming and, most importantly, the context they get put in. The lecture will reconstruct this along a classical and more contemporary example, John Cage’s chance operations and Cornelia Sollfrank’s net.art generators, reading the latter as a critique of the former, and question concepts like indeterminacy, chance, and unintentionality.

Florian Cramer, born 1969, Ph.D. in Comparative Literature, Course Director of the Media Design M.A. programme of the Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam, writer on (among others) experimental and computational arts.

Accidents, generative art and livecoding – Dave Griffiths
Livecoding is the practice of programming in front of an audience. This lectureformace will demo three livecoding systems which are designed to encourage a more playful interaction for live performances than traditional text based livecoding. Using a gamepad, these systems use metaphors borrowed from computer games to encourage playful accidents by the building up of emergent behaviours.

The first instrugame is called betablocker, and is programmed with a form of colourful assembler to make acid techno music. The second is called Al Jazari, and is a robot programming music game named after a 13th century inventor of musical robots. The third is a work in progress gamepad language called daisy chain, where the performer-coder builds network structures of flowers which give birth to new executable visual structures.

Dave has been writing programs to make noises, pictures and animations using a variety of languages for many years. He is the author of lots of free software projects exploring these areas, and uses much of it in performances and workshops around europe. He is part of the Openlab free software artists collective, the TOPLAP live coding community and slub, the live coding band. He lives in London where he makes film effects software and computer games.

Dave has performed at various events using his own software, including the Piksel festival in Bergen, Barcelona’s Sonar festival, the Linux Audio Conference in Karlsruhe, and at the READ_ME Software Art Festival/Dorkbot City Camp in Arhus, Denmark.

Generative Art, a subjective overview – Arie Altena
In my presentation I will give a subjective overview of generative art, including examples from music, literature, media art and the visual arts. If there is a subtext to this overview, it might be the attempt to discern the differences and similarities between the use (and status) of ‘the generative’ in these fields. Examples may include work from: John Cage, John Zorn, Frieder Nake, OULIPO, Karl Sims, Tom Ray, Casey Reas, Driessens & Verstappen, and Telcosystems.

Arie Altena (1966), studied Literary Theory, and writes about art and new media. Currently he is editor/researcher for the V2_Archive in Rotterdam and theory tutor at the department of Interactive Media and Environments of the Frank Mohr Institute in Groningen. He also curates the Sonic Acts Festival in Amsterdam. In the past he worked for Mediamatic and Metropolis M. He co-edited the POD-book Pervasive Personal Participatory, Ubiscribe 0.9.0 (2006) and the Sonic Acts publications Unsorted, Thoughts on the Information Arts (2004), The Anthology of Computer Art (2006) and The Cinematic Experience (2008).

Algorithmic Art – Adger Stokvisch
A lecture on the different aspects of algorithmic art and the artists’ own art practice. A short overview on computational methods and techniques, investigating the possibilities and meaning of these techniques for art production, the integration of algorithmic art in location based work such as art in public space, collaborations with the high-tech sector and a view on the future of algorithmic art and interactive media.

Generative art is firmly rooted in the philosophy of process-based science, which lays the foundation for many artistic possibilities to create autonomously functioning, dynamic (interactive) artworks that can for instance learn, show infinite variations or show emergent behaviour.

Adger Stokvisch focusses on the use of computer technology and computer coding as a medium and works on the artistic research and development of interactive location based computer driven installations. Keywords that describe his practice: interactive computervisualisations, algorithmic art, mathematical modelling, location based computer driven installations, interaction devices and interaction design.

Hosts of the evening – Aymeric Mansoux and Marloes de Valk
Aymeric Mansoux has taken part in many artistic experiments based on the internet and the emergence of networks, and considers any form of data to be a new clay that can be used to develop software art. His most recent projects include the 0xA band, the digital artlife Metabiosis project, the pure:dyne GNU/Linux live distribution for media artists and ongoing theoretical research into tools, online communities and digital autonomous processes. Aymeric is editor of the FLOSS+Art book, scheduled for release mid 2008, as well as www.digitalartistshandook.org which was launched early 2008.

Marloes de Valk is a dutch digital artist, currently based in the UK. She is part of GOTO10, a collective of artists and programmers working in the field of digital art and Free/Libre Open Source Software. She studied Sound and Image at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague, specializing in abstract compositional computer games, HCI and crashing computers. Her work consists of audiovisual performances and installations, investigating machine theater and narratives of digital processes. She is currently collaborating with French artist Aymeric Mansoux on Metabiosis, a project investigating the ups and downs of data packets living in a world of connected ecosystems. From August 2007 until January 2008 she was editor of www.digitalartistshandook.org and is currently working on the GOTO10 publication FLOSS+Art, to be published mid 2008.

workshop hello process!

Workshop ‘Hello Process’, 7-8-9 March 2008, Sign, Winschoterkade 10, Groningen, NL
Costs: Free!

Chaos theory, finite state machines, randomness, entropy, non linear systems and non deterministic automata, l-systems, self-similar series, recursions and iterations. WTF? LOLZ

The term generative art should not attempt to describe any art-movement or ideology. It’s a method of making digital art. This term refers to how the art is made, and not taking into account why it was made, what the content of the artwork is or what the intention of the artist is.

Generative techniques applied to digital art and sound art can greatly enhance and widen the field of possibilities brought inside an artwork by giving an extra degree of freedom to creative processes designed by the artist.

Generative strategies and algorithmic exploration bring the designer in a situation in which s/he is not replaced by the machine but moved to a position where s/he initiates and develops a digital chemistry where artistic processes can evolve on their own.

During this 3 day workshop, the participants will be introduced to dataflow programming, simple Digital Signal Processing, generative and algorithmic techniques that they will be able to apply in any other field once the course is completed.

The main goal is to move creativity from the design of a formal object-effect to the design of the model of an object-cause in which autonomous processes will be injected in order to reach emerging spaces the participants would not have been able to design using a top down approach.

The goal of the workshop is not to learn a new software, but to get acquainted with certain techniques and strategies for the creation of a media art work or design. The software Pure Data will be used to illustrate most of the different techniques, but the emphasis will be
put on introducing and explaining the generative processes so the participant can understand them and will be able to implement these techniques in his/her creative work.

The participants who are interested in learning more about the software used in the workshop, can come to the Openlab sessions following the workshop.

The workshop is based on 100% Free/Libre/Open Source Software. All the material used during the workshop will be available on-line under an open content license. During the workshop we’ll work with the pure:dyne GNU/Linux operating system.

No previous knowledge of programming is required, but knowing how to use
computers is :)

Schedule

DAY 1

introduction to puredata
- basic pd layout
- triggers and messages
- hot and cold inlets
- random and select
- audio and control signals

introduction to gem
- basic gem layout
- gem objects
- spatial organisation
- colors and rendering priority

iterations and recursion
- the basics
- some examples in Pd

DAY 2

deterministic automata
- what is an automaton?
- build a simple automaton in Pd
- stochastic processes
- an example of more advanced automata: cellular automata

introduction to chaos
- a bit of theory
- analysis of the logistic function of Robert May
- presentation of other chaotic functions
- mini pdp introduction
- feedback in pdp

DAY 3

self similarity
- writing a self similar poem
- self similarity in music
- a simple tracer in gem
- L-systems, an introduction
- Some L-systems in Pd

resources for further investigation
- books, sites, lists, etc.
- Openlab
- FLOSS interesting in this context (processing, fluxus, Pd, …)
- Q&A

The Silkthreads Mainframe AKA Spiderweb is a 12 hours performance/installation in which a software art piece is being written from scratch. The software itself is a combination of, mostly, patches (Pure Data) used to describe a two dimensional fiction. There are no final patches, the diagram is evolving as the story goes and will disappear as the story ends. It is a book that will be opened with the 1st word and be closed with the last word. The patch/diagram is entangled in other dimensions. A book is linear, while the Silkthreads Mainframe AKA Spiderweb is non linear and its syntax evolves in 2 dimensions, it will only exist and live during MF and never again after. During the 12 hours the audience will be able to read the diagrams on screens and hear the Silkthreads Mainframe AKA Spiderwebs whispers and shouts. After the 12 hours the only trace will be in a time based file repository (SVN) where one will be able afterwards to reconstruct the story via revision numbers (the book pages).

Performed by: Valentina Vuksic, Marloes de Valk, Aymeric Mansoux and Chun Lee.

The Silkthreads Mainframe was part of “Moving Forest”:

Moving Forest is a 12 hour 5 act sonic performance to be intervened by an expandable citywide operatic manoeuver with public wifi and mobile technology. Derived from Kurosawa’s film version of Macbeth, Spider Web Castle. Moving Forest renders the film’s final sequences (12 minutes in length) into a 12 hour sonica of grand scale. Moving Forest reinvents a modern edition of a Castle Central and a city in revolt. Inside the castle, the downfall of the assumed power; outside in the city, the mobilized urbanites march with generated sounds of insurgence towards the imaginary Central. Moving Forest collaborates with sound artists to compose acts and scores, at the same time, drafts a PD (pure data) conspiracy scheme, performing live with citywide wifi transmitted intervention.

Directed by Martin Howse and Shu Lea Chang

Players: Mattin, Leif Elggren, Kaffe Mathews, Joachim Montessuis, Phil Niblock,Alexandra von Bolz’n, Tam Dean Burn, Vagina Jones , Christian Kesten, Natalia Pschenitschnikova, Aymeric Mansoux, Marloes de Valk, Chun Lee, Valentina Vuksik, Matthew Fuller, Linda Dement, Graham Harwood, Michael Asschuer, Gordan Savicic, Gottfried Haider, Ricardo Miranda Zuniga, Martin Howse, Martin Kuentz, Alexei Blinov, Brendan Howell, Ilze Black, Olaf Matthes.

“Nowhere was the demonstration of the conference theme stronger than in the events which took place off-site. The creators of “The Moving Forest” (directed by Shu Lea Chang and Martin Howse) literally invited attendees to conspire along with them through an epic twelve hour, five act sonic performance using WiFi and mobile technology. A mysterious base was set up in the House of World Cultures, with PD patches being tweaked, equipment being distributed, and various “agents” prowling about. As part of one of the acts, participants armed with “radio guns” stormed landmarks and maneuvered through the city. As an exclusive event to transmediale.08, the Urban Media Salon acted as a platform for discussion and exchange, but fittingly operated largely under the radar. The locations for the salons, hosted in private apartments, were announced at the last minute, and guests were invited to share meals with other participants. Conversation flowed, and new bonds were formed over discussion of not only the transmediale.08 events, but also other diverse topics that emerged over the course of the evening. Sitting at the dinner table in a stranger’s apartment, I experienced the strongest sense of potential for the “conspire” theme. Conspiracy in action, after all, can only happen behind closed doors, at a series of intimate gatherings scattered across the city, in locations that were learned a few hours before and scrawled on a scraps of paper, to be forgotten later.” (from: review of Transmediale 08:CONSPIRE, by Michelle Kasprzak, 06.02.08)

For more information about the Moving Forest project, please visit the project site http://www.movingforest.net

Meshy is an interactive installation and the next step in the Metabiosis project, a collection of works about digital life and autonomous creation processes. The project is a collaboration between Aymeric Mansoux, Tom Schouten and Marloes de Valk.

A group of small devices, in which the digital and virtual obtain their own body and become tangible, make sounds and listen to each other. Euphoric noise and the soft whispers of a failed communication sound through the space in which they live. You can visit them, and listen in on, disturb or participate in their conversations.

‘meshy’ is an experiment and a game for people who are curious about the possibilities of standalone processes, generative systems and artificial life. The project will be developed during a 3 month Artist in Residence at the Waag Society in Amsterdam, from the 1st of October until the 21st of December 2007.

For more information about the Metabiosis project, please visit the project site http://metabiosis.goto10.org

Meshy is made possible with support from the Waag Society and the Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst

http://metabiosis.kuri.mu