PIKSEL

PIKSEL13 || RIOT

* PIKSEL13 workshop series
* Free and Open Creative Technology workshops

In connection with the PIKSEL13 festival we are offering in total 10
workshops. All the workshops are free to attend, but for some of them
there is a cost for materials. To sign up or get more information,
please contact us on piksel13 [AT] piksel.no or register directly at:
http://piksel.no/ocs/index.php?conference=piksel&schedConf=piksel13&page=schedConf&op=registration

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*OPEN  WORKSHOPS

<3-bit shirt workshop for young people
Tue 19.11 – Thu. 21.11 16-20

<3-bit is a workshop on wearable technology and sound experimentation.
The aim of the workshop is to create a shirt capable of capturing and
transmitting your heartbeat though the use of DIY electronics and
creative coding.
http://13.piksel.no/2013/10/30/223/
—

PSYCHOHELIOPHYSICISTS – SUN TONGS
Thu 21.11 – Sun 24.11 11-17

A series of workshops and field trips to take place during the Piksel festival investigating notions of earth/solar connection, diy scientific instruments as tools for musical expression and expanding human creativity through the use of open source electronics (Arduino), software (Arduino IDE and Pure Data), freely available and recycled materials.
http://13.piksel.no/2013/11/15/psychoheliophysicists-sun-tongs/
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Paper-Duino-Pi
Thursday 21.11 11-17

The Paper-Duino-Pi is an Arduino shield for the Raspberry Pi. Due to
the fact that it is designed as Paper-PCB it is easy to create and one
doesn’t need a printed circuit board.
http://13.piksel.no/2013/10/30/paper-duino-pi/
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LornaLab Projection Workshop
Thursday 21.11 11-17

This workshop focuses on creating real-time graphical projections
from text using OpenFrameworks. The motivation behind the workshop
is to create custom visual graphics from streaming text.
http://13.piksel.no/2013/10/30/lornalab-projection-workshop/
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Sound happens in the group!
Friday 22.11 11-17

Building DIY electronic instruments developed and used by Theremidi
Orchestra. The workshop will be conducted in a free manner and all
interactions should be part of the process. Throughout the workshop
some contextual historic and technological information will be given in
a non-linear fashion.
http://13.piksel.no/2013/11/13/sound-happens-in-the-group/
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APODIO V9 WORKSHOP
Friday 22.11 11-17

APODIO is a 10 years old Gnu/Linux distribution, dedicated to
multimedia tools for audio/visual creation, to run your own radio, TV,
make your own film, animation, art installation, Live Coding and other
A/V performance…
http://13.piksel.no/2013/10/30/apodio-v9-workshop/
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Noise Make-up Language
Saturday 23.11 11-17

NML is a noisemaking propaganda network of browsers, DIY electronics,
pure data and activist collaboration.
http://13.piksel.no/2013/11/02/noise-make-up-language/
—

Haptic City Workshop
Saturday 23.11 11-17

The aim of the workshop is to build a prototype of an embroidered
responsive map of the city, together with a group of individuals
interested in producing an artwork about their city.
http://13.piksel.no/2013/10/30/haptic-city-workshop/
—

Limen – electromagnetic sniffing device
Sunday 24.11 11-17

LIMEN is a workshop about traffic & wireless telecommunications.
Participants will construct an analog and portable device able to
amplify electromagnetic activity into audible signals.
http://13.piksel.no/2013/10/31/limen-electromagnetic-sniffing-device/
—

OSC controlled realtime visuals with the gameengine Panda3D
Sunday 24.11 11-17

Creating OSC controlled realtime visuals with the open source game
engine Panda3D.
http://13.piksel.no/2013/10/30/osc-controlled-realtime-visuals-with-the-gameengine-panda3d/
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* PIKSEL09 workshop series
* Free and Open Creative Technology workshops

In connection with the Piksel09 festival we are offering in total 12 electronic and software workshops. All the workshops are free to attend, but for the hardware workshops we need to charge material costs.

To sign up or get more information,
please contact us on piksel09 [AT] piksel.no
or register directly at:
http://piksel.no/ocs/index.php/piksel/piksel09/schedConf/registration (continue reading…)

The Grounding Open Source Hardware (GOSH!) Workshop and Summit at The Banff Centre serves to bring together the many and disparate makers, producers, theorizers and promoters of physical objects that come to life under open and distributed models, and to facilitate the emerging dialogue on both artist-driven and socially conscious open source hardware.

The Workshop and Summit offer a unique opportunity to bring “down to earth” the normally virtual and on-line networks of open source hardware collaboration. Bringing together these cultural producers in one place for an extended period of collaboration, exchange and dialogue, GOSH! will place a critical focus on the possibilities for social transformation and the expansive cultural and artistic possibilities of open source hardware practice.

You can read more about the GOSH! events here, or else visit the Workshop and Summit schedules.

A new release of Fritzing – ‘an open-source initiative to support designers, artists, researchers and hobbyists to take the step from physical prototyping to actual product’ –  just out!  Lots of nice new features:

* Resizable and custom-shaped boards (just import one as svg) – Note: You now get a rectangle PCB by default, swap for the Arduino Shield if you need it
* Gerber export (for sending your PCB to professional production)
* Multiple parts bins (and more: shareable bins, parts import, drag’n’drop reordering)
* Big performance boost (thanks to a new release of Qt)
* New part: Relay (and did you see the web-based parts generator )
* Italian translation (thanks Gianluca!)
* Rotate boards (as long as they are empty)
* Lots of other tweaks and fixes

http://fritzing.org/download/

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.

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

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

Salon discussion: Business models and licensing