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Piksel09 program 19. NOV 2009

PIKSEL09 FESTIVAL OPENING

Piksel09 start off with a day program filled with workshops and presentations, ending with an engaging evening line-up featuring concerts and audiovisual performances. Welcome!

SOFTWARE WORKSHOP | Stenersen Aud. 11:00-13:00

Qeve

¤ Qeve – free your visuals

PRESENTATIONS | Stenersen aud. 14:00-17:00

toonloopvirtual entityrebuntu

¤ The ToonLoop Live Stop Motion Software (RE-SCHEDULED)
¤ Vitual Entity
¤ ReBuntu
¤ The Art of Seduction or Practical Jedi Mindtricks or Escaping the Matrix

HARDWARE WORKSHOP | Nøstegaten 42 12:00-18:00

Hackteria

¤ Hackteria (3 day workshop: Thu 19th.- Sat. 21st)

LIVE EVENTS | Landmark/Bergen Kunsthall 21:00-01:00

action potentialkunst und musikNoise invaders

¤ Opening
¤ Action Potential
¤ Kunst und Music mit dem Tageslichtprojector
¤ Noise Invaders
¤ DC12V :: Teatrino Elettrico ::

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Closer peek at Re:Publica 2009

1500 bloggers, activists, artists and philosophers gathered around the theme: Shift happens! at this year’s Re:publica, a yearly blogger conference with focus on digital society, online media and free culture.


rep09_bloggingdagger

Open call

There where dozens of lectures with topics ranging from web user culture, collective creativity to the wider aspects of open culture and production. Visitors were introduced to open hardware, open film production, d.i.y trends and the open event format “Open everything”.
Moreover C-base – the hacker collective in Berlin, introduced their new project – C-base Open Moon – with the objective: Free (as in Libre) Space Travel. The project is initiated as response to the Google Lunar X prize – a “$30 million competition for the first privately funded team to send a robot to the moon, travel 500 meters and transmit video, images and data back to the Earth.” The C-base community is calling for participants.

Distribution and remixability

Lawrence Lessig entered the throne as one of the keynote speakers at the conference together with sci-fi author Cory Doctorow – who both gave highly articulated, snappy professional and well-practiced presentations. Both managed to place known and at times obvious facts of copyright regulation and remixability in an easy-to-understand context.

Lessig argued extensively for approaches for de-regulation and de-criminalization of distribution and remixed content.
He suggested a format of differentiating content that should be free and openly available for remixing, versus content that should be governed and regulated through law of copy (perhaps even by using traditional copyright regulation), as a way of meeting challenges of digital content today.

lessigformat

He proposes a divide between content created by professionals and amateurs, as well as a divide between distribution of copies and the ability to remix digital content. As he states it, content produced by professionals should be distributed under copyright law, and the ability to remix amatuer content should be free (libre and possibly gratis). However the realms governing the remix of professional content, and the distribution of amateur content lies in a border land.
No only that – dividing creators in groups of professionals and amateurs might be interesting enough – yet, Lessig was in no position to state what differentiates the two groups.

Keynote speakers aside, the conference swarmed with initiatives and takes on life in a digital society. And with the conference’s WLAN breaking down the two last days, the audience got a fresh take on the physical realm outside their laptops as well.


Transmediale 2009: Deep North and Open Hardware

Transmediale 09 and Deep North

Piksel participated in this years Transmediale on the topic of Open Hardware.
One of many events bundled under this year’s theme: Deep North.

A theme grounded in the climate changes of our time, and the mystical aspects of a North. Several of the speakers during the opening of the festival were urging artists and the audience alike to get involved in fighting the climate changes of our time through our art and work.
The call is noble, yet it still seems a bit too easy. What kind of actions are we talking about? How can art and digital media fight global warming?

And after the opening the audience was lead to the exhibition space and presented to the exhibited works of this year’s Transmediale artists, and I can’t shake the feeling that I am looking countless pieces involving ice, ice cubes, sounds of ice, ice bergs, polar bears etc, and there is nothing new there. I am instantly transported back in time where when introduced as a Norwegian, was asked if there are polar bears in the streets of Norway.

Deep North is bordering on becoming a cliche. The north should be more than just a place assosiated with ice and global warming melting that same ice, and borders existing under the ice, and even though the speakers at the opening suggested a stronger mystical association with the choice of theme – I am left with a feeling of flatness, what mysteries are you talking about?

A silent visual comment was presented the following day  – the classical t-shirt protest – quote generously borrowed from the KLF.

grim-north

Piksel and Fair Trade Hardware

Piksel’s involvement in this years Transmediale was centered around a discussion panel on open hardware at Haus Der Kulturen Der Welt.
The host, Aymeric Mansoux (GOTO10) , had put together a diverse group of tinkers and thinkers invited to contribute to the somewhat ambigous subject of Fair Trade Hardware:

Massimo Banzi (tinker.it, arduino)
Martin Howse (XXXXX)
Matthew Ratto (critical making)
Reto Wettach (fritzing)
Adam Somlai-Fischer (kitchen budapest)
Gisle Frøysland (piksel)

With 1,5 hour in total to cover introduction of subject, presentation of the work of the participants and discussion it is clear that many important topics are only mentioned briefly. And in this case the subject of the brand of Arduino as an important element in a business case, was a repeating theme throughout the session, which somehow made equally important aspects of Open Hardware fade into the background. Such as the lifecycle of hardware and how individual tinkering with obsolete hardware parts can offer new and innovative reuse, how general knowledge of hardware components and circuitry can make technology less ubiquous and more participative, and lastly, the very important question of how to make hardware open through licensing.

Underneath you find graphical recordring of the session which is left rather uncommented, in the hope you as reader can create your own image of the session taking place. Comments on how to improve this medium for use in this blog is highly welcomed.

FairTrade Hardware Salon Setup and Introduction

oh_salon1_th oh_salon2_th

Participant presentations:
Tinker.it, XXXXX, Critical Making, Fritzing, Kitchen Budapest and Piksel

oh_salon_tinker_thoh_salon_xxxxx_thoh_salon_critical_thoh_salon2_Fritzing_thoh_salon_kitchen_thoh_salon_piksel_th

Salon discussion: Business models and licensing

oh_salon_disc1_thoh_salon_disc2_th

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  • Today in Oslo at the First Supper Symposium. Starting at 14:30. See you there!
    Maite Cajaraville and Gisle Frøysland (PIKSEL) will present their talk ‘Unmasking the Algorithm: Critical Art in the Age of AI’ at Kunsternes hus kino 12.06. More info and ticket link in event 🔗

    12 June 2025 @ 6:19 am

    The June newsletter is out featuring:
    - The installation "Solar4Rain" by NSA, Maite Cajaraville, and Gisle Frøysland in Bergen, exploring ethical energy and cooperation.
    - Piksel will join the seminar "100% human? – Art, activism and generative AI" in Oslo with a presentation on critical AI and art.
    - The 23rd Piksel Festival is set for November 20-23 in Bergen.
    - Piksel expands to Mastodon and Bluesky.
    https://piksel.no/?na=view&id=72

    4 June 2025 @ 5:39 pm

    Huge thanks ❤ to everyone who came out for the opening of Solar4Rain: an atmospheric PUNK symbiosis! 🌧☀️The exhibition is now live and welcomes all curious minds from Thursday to Sunday, 12:00–17:00.Can we send rain to Spain and get the sun back to Bergen? 🌦Step into this atmospheric PUNK narrative and imagine a future that flows differently.
    https://piksel.no/2025/05/12/solar4rain-an-atmospheric-punk-symbiosis
    #Solar4Rain
    #PunkSymbiosis #SpeculativeFutures #SciFiEcology #ArtExhibition #BergenArtScene
    @Pikselfest @maitecaj @h220

    31 May 2025 @ 6:10 pm

    🌟 Piksel is excited to welcome you to the opening of Piksel Fest Spill on Friday, May 23, at Studio 207, Bergen, 18h — where Solar4Rain will begin to unfold, evolve, and grow over the coming weeks.Created by the Norwegian-based collective NSA, with artists Maite Cajaraville and Gisle Frøysland.Save the date!
    #Solar4Rain #AtmosphericPunk #SpeculativeFutures #PikselFestSpill
    https://piksel.no/2025/05/12/solar4rain-an-atmospheric-punk-symbiosis
    @Studio207@Pikselfest
    @maitecaj @220hex

    20 May 2025 @ 11:09 am

    📣 🌻 Friendly reminder 🌻 📣
    Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to keep updated on Piksel activities and events! 😀
    📨 📨 📨 📨 📨
    https://piksel.no/about/news/newsletter

    22 April 2025 @ 1:53 pm

    We’re excited to share some positive news: thanks to your support, we’ve secured in funding from the city about one-third of what we usually received before cuts, which has allowed us to regain our operational footing. This is an important milestone, and we’re truly grateful for your solidarity. Thank you for believing in Piksel and our mission. Let’s keep working together to build a vibrant future for art, technology, and society. Warm regards, The Piksel Team
    https://chng.it/hGQKNgV99F

    10 January 2025 @ 2:17 pm

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