This Week at Eyebeam: Fashion Week | Light-mobs | Conflux

[Eyebeam]

Andrea Polli, Bridge Wind Farm, Queensboro Bridge

No rest for the wicked It looks like Mayor Bloomberg is endorsing current Eyebeam resident Andrea Polli's proposal to create wind turbines for the spires of the Queensboro Bridge, and Eyebeam fellows have been working all summer to release new projects that are a real steal: Bright Idea Shades, littlebits, and TouchKit; and are currently recruiting for a Morse code workshop, the AAAFFF competition, and the Machinima FilmFest 08. We've also got Eyebeamer's heading off to Ars Electronica, The Upgrade! International, not to mention igniting Conflux Festival happening in and around NYC this year. And if you haven't heard yet: GRL's James Powderly, an Eyebeam alum, is now safely back in NYC after being detained in Beijing, where he was collaborating with the group Students for a Free Tibet. You can find photos and updates are online at Free Art and Technology Lab site: http://fffff.at/the-eagle-has-landed/ So come and don your kinky Syrian lingerie on Saturday, September 6 at Eyebeam as we kick-off Fall! This Week at Eyebeam: September 6: Fashion Week with Ayah Bdeir September 6 + 7: Light-Mobs Morse Code workshops September 12: Machinima FilmFest 2008 deadline September 13: Fashion Week with JooYoun Paek Position available: Eyebeam seeking Production Manager New from our Labs: August 16 – September 21: Vagamundo—A Migrant's Tale August 18 – Sept 1: Jeff Crouse's Finger Olympics August 29 – 31: David Jimison's Urban Bingo at IndieCade September 1: Anti-Advertising Agency Foundation For Freedom deadline September 7: Eyebeam stars at Ars September 10: Fauxcialite at WadKlub Fashion Week Party Download the source: touchkit online now Steal this idea: Bright Idea Shade online now Ayah Bdeir's littleBits gain a little fame Climate Research: The city gets some help from Eyebeam Community: September 11 – 13: Eyebeam Conflux Events September 11 – 14: Upgrade! International's Chain Reaction September 6: Fashion Week with Ayah Bdeir Date: Sat., Sept. 6, 4PM Location: Eyebeam, 540 W. 21st St., NYC Cost: Free Join us at 4pm on Saturday when R&D OpenLab fellow Ayah Bdeir will hold a runway show of her and Luma Shihab-Eldin's Syrian-style technologically hacked lingerie on the street in front of Eyebeam. For more information, visit: http://www.haniyassecrets.com top September 6 + 7: Light-mobs Morse Code workshops Date: Sat., Sept. 6, and Sun., Sept. 7, 1 – 4PM Location: Eyebeam, 540 W. 21st St., NYC Cost: Free Sign-up: [e-mail] Eyebeam senior fellow Geraldine Juárez is recruiting a team for her Light-mobs, during Conflux Festival 2008. The Light-mobs are flash-mob style actions where communication between participants happens in morse code, using the Pocket Lightcoder and sunlight to transmit information. The workshops are at Eyebeam (Sept. 6 + Sept. 7), and the action will be at the Conflux Festival weekend (Sept. 13 + 14). For more information, visit: http://www.didididahdahdahdididi.com. But hurry! There are only 12 spots available. Free Pocket Lightcoder and small lunch provided. top September 12: Machinima FilmFest 2008 deadline Date: Submission deadline: Fri., Sept. 12 http://www.festival.machinima.org The Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences (AMAS) is calling for submissions for the much anticipated Machinima FilmFest 08 (the “Sundance of the Video Game Set”) which will be held Sat., Nov. 1 at Eyebeam! Filmmakers interested in submitting their work for the awards (“The Mackies”) have till Fri., Sept. 12. As in years past, Machinima FilmFest 08 will feature panel discussions with prominent machinima filmmakers from around the world discussing this new form of cinema which often uses popular video games like Halo 3, World of Warcraft and The Sims as source material for entirely new, and often subversive works. top September 13: Fashion Week workshop with JooYoun Paek Date: Sat., Sept. 13, 4PM Location: Eyebeam, 540 W. 21st St. W. http://confluxfestival.org/conflux2008/self-sustainable-chair/ In conjunction with Conflux Festival 2008, Eyebeam alum JooYoun Paek leads a workshop on how to make your own Self-Sustaining Dress, a dress made out of polyethylene, connected to shoes that pump air into an inflatable bubble attached to its rear part on each step. The dress slowly transforms into a chair with each step and holds the person to sit on it naturally. top Position available: Eyebeam seeking Production Manager Eyebeam is currently seeking a full-time Production Manager to support the development, coordination, and production needs of Eyebeam's Fellowship and Residents programs. Details of the position and application requirements will be posted on the Eyebeam website on September 2. top New from our Labs: August 16 – September 21: Vagamundo—A Migrant's Tale Vagamundo—A Migrant's Tale is a solo exhibition of work by Eyebeam resident Ricardo Miranda Zuniga, curated by Aniko Erdosi and Veronica on view from Aug. 16 – Sept. 21. Closing reception: Sept. 21, 6–8PM at 0.00156 acres, 119 Smith St. Brooklyn, NY August 18 – Sept 1: Jeff Crouse's Finger Olympics R&D OpenLab fellow Jeff Crouse presents the Finger Olympics! A game where contestants print and cutout special accessories, and then use their fingers to compete in a 100 decimeter dash. The game uses computer vision to track your fingers as you race for the finish line. After an initial training period, the best runners will compete in a final race for the Finger Olympics gold medal. To take the tour vist: http://vimeo.com/1510617, and for a tutorial: http://vimeo.com/1536174 Official website: http://www.fingerolympics.com top August 29 – 31: David Jimison's Urban Bingo at IndieCade Urban Bingo will be appearing at IndieCade Independent Games Festival, in Seattle Washington August 29 – 31. Developed by Eyebeam production fellow David Jimison, Urban Bingo is a variant of the popular Bingo game, that turns city elements into game pieces. http://urban-bingo.com/ top September 1: Anti-Advertising Agency Foundation For Freedom deadline Are you in marketing or advertising and want to quit your job? We want to pay you with a giant novelty check! Applications are due Mon., Sept. 1. To learn more visit: http://antiadvertisingagency.com/projects/foundation-for-freedom Listen to Eyebeam senior fellow Steve Lambert and Anne Elizabeth Moore on Chicago Public Radio talking about the AAAFFF here: http://visitsteve.com/news/aaafff-on-chicago-public-radio/ top Eyebeam stars at Ars Date: Sun., Sept. 7, 3 – 6PM Location: Brucknerhaus Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria Eyebeam executive director Amanda McDonald Crowley, R&D OpenLab fellow Zach Lieberman and Production Lab fellow Friedrich Kirchner will be presenting at Pixel-Spaces, the latest installment in the Ars Electronica Futurelab’s annual conference series, featuring selected international R&D facilities and labs that are teaching and/or working at the interface of artistic-creative media production and technological research. Date: Sept. 4 – 9 Location: Brucknerhaus Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria R&D OpenLab fellow Zach Lieberman and alum Theo Watson, creators of openFrameworks—an open source, C++ toolkit for artists and creative technologists (Ars Electronica Prix honorary mention, 2008)—will be transforming the first floor of the Brucknerhaus into an experimental OF laboratory. The OF lab will focus on creating new works that derive from suggestions from festival audience members. Over the course of this event, a feedback loop will be created between suggestions, experimentation, making projects, exhibiting the results and exposing the creative process. They will be joined by over a dozen other lab mates, including Eyebeam alumni Chris Sugrue, Taeyoon Choi, Golan Levin and Interactivos@Eyebeam participant Tine Papendick. top September 10: Fauxcialite at WadKlub Fashion Week Party Date: Thurs., Sept. 11, 10PM Location:Hiro Ballroom INVITE ONLY: [e-mail] WADKLUB is a party concept created in 2002 by the French fashion publication, WAD magazine. WADKLUB launches various Fashion Weeks around the world including Paris Fashion Week, Barcelona's Bread & Butter, and since this last February the NYC Mercedes Benz Fashion week. Production Lab fellow David Jimison will be installing the Fauxcialite photo system allowing guests to create time lapse poses of themselves, that are then projected in real time at the party. top Download the source: touchkit online now Eyebeam Production Lab fellow Addie Wagenknecht and collaborator Stefan Hechenberger of NOR_/D have released their open source multitouch API, touchkit, online at http://touchkit.nortd.com. This project relies on the help of the community to get the code/schematics out there. Your task is simple: test it, break it and make awesomeness with it! It also comes with a hardware reference design (TouchKit) so you can “build your own.” Through this open source process, we hope to be able to eliminate some of the complexities and provide a solid common starting point. For the project description, setup guides, code, more examples, and to access the live forum, visit: http://touchkit.nortd.com top Steal this idea: Bright Idea Shade online now As we convert our burnt out silver-tip incandescent bulbs into CFL bulbs, we are faced with the problem of a bare harsh light. Eyebeam's R&D OpenLab and Sustainability Action Group designed a versitile lampshade to soften this light. They took several existing designs and customized one to fit a CFL bulb, made out of heat resistant photo diffuser material, and laser cut diffuser template which is now online, free to download, with an instructable for the templates and other goodness. The DIY kits are also available at Eyebeam. The Bright Idea Shade is licensed with a Creative Commons Attribution license, and is a project of the Eyebeam R&D OpenLab/Sustainability Action Group members R&D OpenLab fellow Michael Mandiberg, senior fellow Steve Lambert, with Eyebeam interns Simon Jolly, Peter Duyan, and Oscar Torres. For more information: http://eyebeam.org/project/cfl http://vimeo.com/1553079 http://www.instructables.com/id/Beautify_your_CFLs_with_Bright_Idea... top Ayah Bdeir's littleBits gain a little fame In the past week, R&D OpenLab fellow Ayah Bdeir's littleBits has been seen on Engadget, Gizmodo, Make, Core77, BoingBoing, Geek, and many more! The littleBits videos: http://www.vimeo.com/tag:littlebits have been viewed over 25,000 times, and have received tonnes of great comments, emails and encouragements. Keep 'em coming! For more information visit: http://www.ayahbdeir.com/littleBits top Climate Research: The city gets some help from Eyebeam Has Mayor Bloomberg been hanging out at Eyebeam? Earlier this year, as part of the Feedback exhibition, we featured artist (who is now also an Eyebeam resident) Andrea Polli's proposal to create wind turbines for the spires of the Queensboro Bridge (a project she began four years ago). Working with the NASA Goddard Climate Research Group, technical designer Markus Maurette and videographer Morgan Barnard, Polli produced a short video promoting the installation of working turbines as an art project on the bridge that would provide enough power to light the necklace lights, which were turned off by Bloomberg a few months after 9/11 in order to save money. Polli's project was inspired by the darkening of the necklace lights and by the Northeast blackout of 2003. Polli's project has been presented widely througout New York City, nationally and internationally. Looks like the inspiration is mutual—during the 2003 blackout, Polli remembers listening to the mayor speak of the need for innovative solutions to the energy issue on the radio, and began work on the project the very next day. For more information visit: http://www.andreapolli.com/queensbridge top Community: September 11 – 13: Eyebeam Conflux Events Conflux Festival 2008 Date: Sept., 11 – 13 Location: Headquaters: Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place, NYC. Events take place at various locations Cost: Free http://www.confluxfestival.org Conflux curators panel Thurs., 11 Sept., 10AM – 12:15PM, Center for Architecture Panelists: Eyebeam executive director Amanda McDonald Crowley with Odin Cappello, Brian House, Sal Randolph and Radhika Subramaniam; and following opening remarks by Festival Director Christina Ray, Conflux Co-Founder David Mandl and Keynote Speaker Chris Carlsson. Serendipitous Anthems Sun., Sept. 14 Production fellow David Jimison's Serendipitous Anthems is an audio spotlight that follows people as they walk down the block projecting a personal music anthem to them, dynamically generated based on their walking speed, the weather, and other factors. Light-mobs Sun., Sept. 14, 12PM http://confluxfestival.org/conflux2008/light-mobs/ Senior fellow Geraldine Juárez's Light-mobs are flash-mob style actions that use the Pocket LightCoder and sunlight to communicate in morse code, between participants. For more information visit: http://www.didididahdahdahdididi.com Teta Haniya's Secrets http://confluxfestival.org/conflux2008/the-arab-store/ Teta Haniya’s Secrets by R&D OpenLab fellow Ayah Bdeir, Openlab Fellow collaboration with Luma Shihab-eldin is a line of kinky electronic lingerie by Teta Haniya, a character based on real Syrian grandmothers. With over 60 years of Islamic teachings on seduction, and an arsenal of kitschy electronics Teta Haniya comes to New York to hijack the western panty, triggering the sexual liberation of the American woman. For more information visit: http://www.haniyassecrets.com The Federation of Students and Nominally or Unemployed Artists Sun., Sept. 14, 1 – 3PM, Center for Architecture A group of which senior fellow Steve Lambert is a member, will be giving away unsecured cash grants in the form of $10–$60 for creative projects thought-up on the spot by everyday people. The $1000 source fund is raised by $100 contributions by the ten students and nominally or unemployed artists in the Federation. The Vertical Bed http://confluxfestival.org/conflux2008/vertical-bed/ Alum Jamie O'Shea will give visual performance of an alternate way of occupying urban space, born partly out of fantasies of minimal need and elegant futurism, and partly out of fears of the dehumanization of space. Occupants will absorb the vertical structure of urban architecture into their bodies. The vertical sleeper is in a constant state of readiness, never succumbing to collapse. Wildernets Thurs., Fri., Sat., 4 – 8PM, various locations around the Conflux Headquarters http://confluxfestival.org/conflux2008/wild-nets-working-title/ Alum Mouna Andraos in collaboration with Doris Cacoilo & Sonali Sridhar create Wildernets: portable mesh structures that create experiences of wilderness in public spaces. Other Eyebeam alumni participating in Conflux include: Ken Wark, Joo Youn Paek, Jonah Brucker-Cohen, Leon Reid IV, and Bennett Williamson (with Jeff Sisson). top September 11 – 14: Upgrade! International's Chain Reaction 3rd Upgrade! International gathering: Chain Reaction Date: Sept., 11 – 14 Location: Skopje, Macedonia Cost: Free http://www.line.org.mk/ Chain Reaction is a four day festival curated by the Upgrade! International community bringing together artists, curators and art producers from more than 20 cities worldwide (Asia, Canada, Europe, North America, South America, South Africa, New Zealand). The thematic approach for this city-wide digital art and networked culture festival, explores cultural development and growth in the local region as well as within digital networks. The festival will be a catalyst for dialog, future collaborations and new cultural understanding. Representing Eyebeam will be honorary fellow Yael Kanarek, who initiated the Upgrade! network, and will be facilitating the organizers sessions; director of education and public programs Liz Slagus moderating a discussion about Upgrade! New York; program and events coordinator Paul Amitai performing his perform his audio/video work, InBetween States; Production Lab fellow Friedrich Kirschner presenting Realtime Animation for Everyone, including demos and a workshop of realtime full-body scanning using open source software to animate captured scans; Mushon Zer-Aviv hosting a workshop about KRIEGSPIEL, Guy Debord’s 1978 “Game of War” produced in collaboration with alum Alexander Galloway and RSG. top