Pregant robot

I am impressed that the teaching of baby delivery not only on the surgeon or the midwives but on the team. They even get someone to play the mother creatively. Isn't it a very different thinking to the practice in HK hospital where the team and the patient is quite invisible?

The world's first timesculpture TV ad,

production details


I am thinking about the concept and the making, I think the film "matrix' did a much better use of time sculpture, but sure it is a lot of hard work and money.(creatively vs logistically)

Web 2.0 Studies // Critical Internet Theory with Geert Lovink

Research Methodologies Workshop
December 15th and 16th, 2008
School of Culture and Communication
University of Melbourne

The School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne is seeking applications from researchers who wish to take part in a two day methodologies workshop with Professor Geert Lovink (Director, Institute of Network Culture, Amsterdam). Participation is free but places are limited and will be restricted to participants who are engaged in research relating to the theme of Web 2.0 studies and
critical Internet theory. Participants will be chosen based on a competitive application process and priority will be give to postgraduates and early career researchers. The workshop will include a discussion of the work of Geert Lovink and presentations from successful applicants.

Workshop Theme

This two-day intensive workshop will focus on critical methodologies for studying Web 2.0. In relation to the contemporary Internet, there is an obvious need to move beyond cultural studies approaches to fandom, where active consumption is simply recast as participatory culture without any assessment of the economic and technological forces driving user-generated content. Rather than relying on the Jenkins-style models of convergence and the notion of collective intelligence, this workshop will encourage participants to consider the alternative possibilities and theoretical problems facing a materialist understanding of network culture.

For instance, to what extent can software studies move from engineering issues and technologically-focused specifications to outline a broader analytics of power? What sort of creative concepts are available for understanding the everyday practices of blogging? How can organized networks transform their dependence on free labor to reach greater economic sustainability?

While the theme is framed in part by Geert Lovink's ongoing theoretical work, this workshop also allows for the opportunity to discuss some of the more general difficulties facing Internet research, including questions of scale, speed and temporality, theories of technology, debates around networked politics and modes of
collaboration.

Some key topics:

- organized networks
- theories of blogging
- recent web 2.0 literature (Bruns, Zittrain, Shirky)
- software studies and protocol (Fuller, Galloway)
- distributed aesthetics
- free labor and collaboration

The ARC Cultural Research Network has agreed to fund 3 stipends of up to $750 to support travel and accommodation costs of participants from outside Melbourne.

How to Apply: Applications are due by Friday Nov 21, 2008.
Applications must include a 250-word summary of your research topic,
highlighting links to the theme and a one-page curriculum vitae.

Applications and further information should be sent to Michael Dieter
at mdieter {AT} unimelb.edu.au

Geert Lovink, founding director of the Institute of Network Cultures(INC), is a Dutch-Australian media theorist and critic. He holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne and in 2003 was based at the Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies, University of Queensland. In 2004, Lovink was appointed as Research Professor at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam and Associate Professor at University of Amsterdam. He is
the founder of Internet projects such as nettime and fibreculture. His recent book titles are Dark Fiber (2002), Uncanny Networks (2002) and My First Recession (2003). In 2005-06 he was a fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg Berlin Institute for Advanced Study where he finished his third volume on critical Internet culture, Zero Comments
(2007).

Geert's weblog: www.networkcultures.org/geert

Grow your own media lab (the graphic novel)

Text by James Wallbank
Pictures by Michael Tesh
Design by Scott Hawkins
Access Space, 2008
ISBN 978-0-95500-913-6
Access Space is an open access media lab based in Sheffield. Access Space encourages people to learn how to use hardware re-used from local companies and Free Software from the GNU project and others. This saves money and builds skills. Those skills can then be shared to build a self-reliant and sustainable community around the lab.

Since being founded in the year 2000 Access Space has thrived where many community and government schemes have failed. This has drawn attention from groups eager to understand and reproduce its success. This has led to the Arts-Council-funded study "Grow Your Own Media Lab", of which the final report is the graphic novel of the same name "Grow Your Own Media Lab (The Graphic Novel)" or GYOML for short.

GYOML is a 114-page A5 perfect-bound book. The cover is a vivid black and yellow composition. Part Principia Discordia, part Emigre, it will look equally at home in gallery bookshops and alternative press outlets. Curious browsers will be hard pressed to resist taking a look. Inside, the book is black & white throughout with an introductory text followed by alternating pages of titles and comic-book illustrations of case studies.

Most books that use a Creative Commons licence either don't specify the licence or use one of the more restrictive licences. You'd be surprised how many cheerleaders for Free Software and Free Culture have restrictive licences on their books. Kudos to Access Space for getting the licence right (the copyleft "Attribution-ShareAlike" licence) and making sure that it's explained clearly in the book's front matter. This ensures that GYOML continues the Access Space ethos of sharing cultural and technological wealth in a principled and practical way.

The comic-book illustrations by Michael Tesh are in fanzine style, a characterful and evocative aesthetic for a small press publication. I found myself smiling at the clear inner thoughts of some of the people Tesh depicts, and if you meet one of Access Space's personnel after seeing his depictions of them you'll feel you already know them. What makes Tesh's art the perfect illustration for the case studies is that he is an Access Space regular.

Rather than providing an instruction manual for using software, which the book's introduction rightly points out would quickly become outdated, GYOML presents a series of case studies of users of the lab and the situations that they encounter. The case studies include a shy teenager, a nervous work placement, a mature student and a refugee dissident, all people learning from and contributing to different aspects of the running of Access Space. This illustrates the value of Access Space's approach and explain how, and more importantly why, to recreate it.

Despite not being a software manual there is a surprising wealth of technical and administrative information delivered surprisingly painlessly mixed in with the case studies. Such as how and why to use computers that businesses will pay you to take away from them, how and why to use Free Software, and how and why to make a server to keep users' work safe if one of those reclaimed computers breaks down. The names of Free Software operating system and art software is mentioned, as is how to learn more about them, so it is easy to find out more. And I didn't know how to crimp an RJ-45 ethernet cable before reading GYOML. Now I do.

For all the talk of "grass roots activism" and "alternative governance" on mailing lists, in universities, and at conferences there is often a disconnect between the rhetoric of technological radicalism and actually doing anything in society. We can learn a lot from Access Space's determination to get their hands dirty and to use technology as a means to the end of empowering people. A few years ago I helped out at Remix Reading's open access lab, which was inspired to adopt Access Space's way of working, so I can say from personal experience that running a lab is a rewarding experience.

GYOML is an effective and persuasive exposition of the virtues of Access Space's way of doing things. It is inspirational, unpretentious and informative. We need more like Access Space, and GYOML shows us how to do it. Let a thousand media labs bloom.

Jan van Eyck Academie - Call for Applications

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Artists, designers and theoreticians are invited to submit proposals for individual or collective research projects for a one-year, two-year or variable research period in the department of Design

Extrastatecraft: Hidden Organizations, Spatial Contagions and Activism, a new project of the Design department, initiated by Keller Easterling, researches underexplored territory in the world's infrastructural and organizational strata. The work focuses on shared protocols, managerial subroutines and financial instruments as they produce and program physical space around the world. Perhaps because these organizations operate in the background, in an active and relational rather than nominative register, their political outcomes are often at once pervasive and mysterious.

For instance, how do organizations like the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) or McKinsey determine management protocols? How do construction networks, more than the singular creations of architects and urbanists, disseminate materials and processes that determine how the world is calibrated? How do markets and financial instruments create templates that shape space?

The research also explores the political leverage latent in this renovated conception of global infrastructure. Some of the most radical changes to the globalizing world are being written, not in the language of law and diplomacy, but rather in the language of architecture, urbanism and infrastructure. Armand Mattelart argues that global infrastructure is a field that is 'young and uncharted' largely because it is often still considered in terms of national rather than international histories. Moreover, the political instrumentality of these increasingly familiar global spheres is still frequently theorized in terms of militarization or universal rationalization, when they might really be agents of more discrepant or obscure forms of polity. The notion that there is either a dominant logic or a proper forthright realm of political negotiation usually acts as the perfect camouflage for parallel political activity - the medium of subterfuge, hoax and hyperbole that actually rules the world.

Extrastatecraft will consider a number of tools effective in manipulating active organization, but will pay particular attention to the ways in which these organizations are really populations of repeatable components and formats, the arrangement and chemistry of which possess a political disposition. The project will research multipliers in the organization that make components contagious and powerful as shapers of polity, and will consider these as stealthy tools of activism. New objects of practice and entrepreneurialism, redefined in a relational register, reflect the network's ability to amplify structural shifts or repeatable moves. If icons of piety, collusion or competition often escalate tensions, might alternative design ingenuities distract from them? Having customarily absented itself from official political channels, architecture, as extrastatecraft, finds itself in an unexpectedly consequential position, manipulating codes of passage and points of leverage in the thickening back channels of global infrastructure.

While researchers will find in the topic many points of entry, some anticipated research agendas address the managerial and infrastructural substrates of space related to finance, construction, trade and marketing. Travel, language skills, archival experience and fieldwork will serve the research. Textual, graphic or design documents may contribute to the final collective product.

Candidates interested in this project can apply with a research proposal. Selected candidates gain the position of researcher at the Design department of the Jan van Eyck Academie.

Deadline applications: 24 November 2008.

Networked: a (networked_book) about (networked_art) : A Juried International Competition

Call for Proposals
Deadline - December 15, 2008
"A networked book is an open book designed to be written,
edited and read in a networked environment."
(Institute for the Future of the Book)

Five writers will be commissioned to develop chapters for a networked book about networked art. The chapters will be open for revision, commentary, and translation by online collaborators. Each commissioned writer will receive $3,000 (US).
Details.

Media Matters launches phase 2

A consortium of curators, conservators, registrars, legal advisors, and media technical managers from New Art Trust, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), and Tate has launched the second phase of Media Matters, an innovative website designed to provide international guidelines for the care of time-based media works of art (e.g. video, slide, film, audio, and computer-based installations).Here

Where's The Chicken: A Locative Robotics Project

This project, presented by the Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University, aiming for the foundation of future hub in media art research, especially for installation art, locative media and robotics art. It features the exclusive opportunity in Hong Kong for young creative professionals, artists & students to develop their creative concepts through collaboration with the invited artist, Annie On Ni Wan, PhC from Center For Digital Arts & Experimental Media, University of Washington, Seattle, US.

香港浸會大學視覺藝術院冀望通過本計劃逐步為香港發展首個以裝置藝術、公共藝術和機械藝術為重點的媒體藝術平台，本計劃邀請本地藝術家溫安妮與具專業水平之視覺藝術人才和學生合作，為媒體藝術平台定立基礎。


Step 1: Professional Workshops
All workshops provide unique hands-on training within the context of contemporary experimental art scene. Selected workshop participants will be invited to a number of individual project consultation meetings with the artist and participate in the 10-days arts festival during Summer, 09. All exhibition material costs and equipments will be provided. Each workshop costs $390 (12 hours/ workshop) and workshop participants must be enrolled in at least 2 workshops.

此工作坊目標為培養各學員成為優秀藝術人才，促進他們在當代藝術領域上的創造力與實踐能力。工作坊的藝術專業顧問將會由本地媒體藝術家溫安妮擔任，屆時，被挑選的參加者會被作出個別指導，並創作其個人作品，他們的作品將會於為期10天的藝術節中展出，而本藝術院將會為被挑選的參加者提供展覽的物料和成本。每個工作坊的材料費為 $390 (12 小時/ 工作坊)，而每位參加者必須參與至少兩個工作坊。


I: Sound & Telematics Art (Registration Deadline: 19, Dec 2008) 2, 9 Jan 2009 1900-2200 & 3, 10 Jan 2008 1000-1300
II: Introduction to Sensing & Control Systems (Registration Deadline: 9, Jan 2009) 16, 23 Jan 2009 1900-2200 & 17, 24 Jan 2009 1000-1300
III: Mechatronic Art, Design & Fabrication (Registration Deadline: 6, Feb 2009) 6, 13 Feb 2009 1900-2200 & 7, 14 Feb 2009 1000-1300
IV: Performance Art & Locative Media (Registration Deadline: 20, Feb 2009) 20, 27 Feb 2009 1900-2200 & 21, 28 Feb 2009 1000-1300

For more information about workshops & the project,Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University Tel: 2353 5170 URL: http://va.hkbu.edu.hk E-mail: va@hkbu.edu.hk

This project is supported by Hong Kong Arts Development Council

When, why and how are individuals moved by a piece of art in a museum or gallery?

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What links a neuroscientist with a social anthropologist and the UK’s premier independent art charity?

The answer is the visual perception of art. When, why and how are individuals moved by a piece of art in a museum or gallery?

These are the questions to be examined between the world renowned Department of Museum Studies and the Department of Engineering at the University of Leicester, in collaboration with The Art Fund.

Social anthropologist Dr Sandra Dudley, and Professor of Bioengineering Rodrigo Quian Quiroga are each facing what they admit is one of the biggest research challenges of their careers.

Working with the Director of The Art Fund, Mr David Barrie, in the supervision of a new PhD student dedicated to the project, Ms Jennifer Binnie, they will develop a totally new, interdisciplinary approach to the perception of gallery art.

Dr Dudley commented: “What we’re studying is a basic level of human experience of the material and visual world. It doesn’t always happen that an individual will feel the wow factor when they look at a piece of art in a museum, but it does happen sometimes. What causes that? Why does certain art appeal to certain people? What lasting impact does it have on their lives?”

We don't need education, we don't need critics, we don't need art. It is all direct visual stimulation and we can generate inspiration with preset remix of images in the future.

Call for Net Art in Hz

On-line journal Hz is looking for articles on New Media, Net Art, Sound Art and Electro-Acoustic Music. We accept earlier published and unpublished articles in English. Please send your submissions to hz-journal@telia.com

Hz is also looking for Net Art works to be included in its virtual gallery. Please send your URL to hz-journal@telia.com

Deadline: 25 November, 2008

Hz is published by the non-profit organization Fylkingen in Stockholm. Established in 1933, Fylkingen has been known for introducing yet-to-be-established art forms throughout its history. Nam June Paik, Stockhausen, Cage, etc. have all been introduced to the Swedish audience through Fylkingen. Its members consist of leading composers, musicians, dancers, performance artists and video artists in Sweden. For more information on Fylkingen, please visit http://www.fylkingen.se/about or http://www.hz-journal.org/n4/hultberg.html

How much is that art in the window?

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Christie’s New York Pop Culture: Punk/Rock sale on November 24 will continue to bring fresh, new markets to auction with a Punk and Rock collection, and a selection of Designer Toys.

PUNK
The sale is highlighted with imagery and artifacts of the late seventies and early eighties Punk explosion from both sides of the Atlantic. The most important venues, bands, designers and writers of the Punk movement are showcased through fanzines, flyers, posters, t-shirts, records and photographs. With over 120 lots, estimates range from $300 to $6,000. Musicians and bands include; Blondie, David Bowie, Lou Reed, Mick Rock, Patti Smith, Richard Hell, Sid Vicious, The Clash, The Cure, The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, The Smiths, and The Velvet Underground.

Posters and flyers featured include — a rare concert poster for The Ramones seminal appearance at the Roundhouse, July 4, 1976, which notably attracted other bands in the audience such as The Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned (estimate: $2,000 – 3,000); the most significant Punk flyer to appear at auction, The Screen on the Green Presents a Midnight Special featuring Sex Pistols + Clash + Buzzcocks, August 29, 1976 (estimate: $3,000 – 4,000); and a flyer for The Clash, The Buzzcocks, Subway Sect and The Slits at The Coliseum, March 11, 1977 (estimate: $1,500 – 2,000).

A complete press kit from the 1977-78 U.S. Tour of The Sex Pistols is signed on the cover by Malcom McLaren and includes signed publicity photos by Johnny Rotten, Paul Cook, Steve Jones and Sid Vicious (estimate: $5,000 - 6,000). The first piece of tattoo memorabilia to appear at auction is a hand-crafted, Art Deco-style chest created by the legendary and influential tattoo artist Amund Deitzel (1890 – 1973), for use in his tattoo parlor in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (estimate: $3,000 – 5,000).

DESIGNER TOYS
After introducing Designer Toys to the auction market in Christie’s June Pop Culture sale, Christie’s is pleased to offer an expanded selection of over 25 lots in the November sale, with estimates starting at $100. This twenty-first century art movement is a unique multidisciplinary mode of expression, which employs painting, sculpture, graphic design, fashion, graffiti, industrial design, metal craft, and woodworking. This is a movement that has brought art to the masses and sits between the worlds of fine and commercial art.

Highlights include — Frank Kozik’s complete sets of his ‘Ludwig Van’ and ‘Ho Chi Minh’ busts (estimate: $3,000 - $4,000 each); KAWS’ ‘4ft. Companion’ (estimate: $7,000 - $9,000); and Huck Gee’s Customized Mega Munny (estimate: $4,000 - $5,000). Other artists represented are; Suckadelic, Carlos Enriquez Gonzales, Amanda Visell, Cupco, Luke Chueh, Dalek, Thomas Han, and Mark Nagata. Manufacturers include; Munky King, Kidrobot, Medicom, and Max Toy Co.

ROCK
Several rare and well-documented concert instruments are features in the auction. An exciting highlight is the Vox Continental Portable Organ played by John Lennon at the historic Shea Stadium concert, August 15, 1965, the Beatles’ appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, August 13, 1965, and at the studio recording of I’m Down (estimate: $150,000 – 200,000). The concert at Shea Stadium is arguably one of the most famous in rock history. Lennon’s memorable frenzied rendition of I’m Down, while pounding on the organ, resulted in it not working properly for the next show. The organ has since been repaired and is fully functional.

A Yamaha SC 1000 electric guitar owned and played in concert by Bob Marley during the final worldwide tour of Bob Marley and The Wailers in 1979, is another highlight (estimate: $30,000 – 40,000). Marley was presented with the guitar upon his visit to the Yamaha factory in Hamamatsu during the Tokyo leg of the tour, and photographs of legendary singer playing at Tokyo and Osaka venues are sold with the guitar.

A collection of three original tapes and five handwritten boxes by Jimi Hendrix are available from the famous sessions that would become the classic album Electric Ladyland (estimate: $20,000 – 30,000). The boxes include handwritten production notes and were given to a member of the The Amen Corner, who toured with Hendrix in the UK.

Other highlights include a bass guitar played by a young Kurt Cobain while recording demos at his Aunt’s house in Aberdeen, Washington, in 1982 and 1985 (estimate: $60,000 – 80,000). For fans and collectors of the Beastie Boys, is the original artwork for the cover of the band’s 1986 debut album License to Ill by David Gambale (estimate: $20,000 – 30,000).