PIKSEL

During the afternoon Martin Kaltenbrunner & Ross Bencina presented reacTVision, an open source cross-platform  computer vision framework whose first well known application is reactable, a new astonishing musical instrument.

reacTVision was designed for the rapid development of table-based tangible user interfaces as well as for multi-touch finger tracking. The system can be interfaced to puredata, max, macromedia, processing, and to other lower level programming languages. reacTVision is a standalone application which sends OpenSound Control messages via a UDP network socket to any connected client application. It implements the TUIO protocol, which was specially designed for transmitting the state of tangible objects on a table surface. Alternatively it can also send MIDI messages.

Anne-Marie Skriver Hansen presented CUI (Create USB interface) by Dan Overholt. CUI is similar in approach to the Arduino open source hardware, but is capable of doing true USB HID (Human Interface Device) transfers. Anne-Marie will give a presentation of her project “Vacuole Robes” based on CUI later this week.

Audun Eriksen gave an introduction to Circuit Bending, the creative short-circuiting of low voltage battery-powered electronic audio devices. Reed Gazala, father of this practice, suggested the name ‘circuit bending’ and was the first to publish his notes around the subject and to share his anti-theories. His manual is a fundamental text for those who are interested in learning the subject.

The piksel07 schedule is now available as a printable pdf here:
http://www.piksel.no/piksel07/p07_downloads/scedule_300dpi.pdf

Piksel07 participants are soon starting to arrive in the (hopefully) beautiful snowy streets of Bergen.

All practical info about how to get here, where to stay and what on earth you need a ‘sydvest’ for, is posted on the piksel mailinglist and also gathered in the piksel plenum.

There is also a map and info-sheet with addresses and contact info for download in the main web-pages.

have a safe trip & cu soon!

the Piksel07 team

Fig.1: Incoding Rules [Peter Halley]

xxxxx Product Specification

November 2007

General Description:

xxxxx_at_piksel:/2007/ is a third generation development of xxxxx events, with a 12 hour performative specification presenting a high throughput of collaboration.

Structured processes are made available for description, and interpretation within an “active making-in-the-world” implementation.

Construction potential is shared between invited international participants arrayed in logical shift partitions, each allowing for full participant interface [see Pin Assignments] and programmer access.

The shift pattern allows for the clear display of foreground-background activity and the incorporation of a range of interrupt responses [see Interrupts].

Output is decoded within a final specified act after the elaboration of all core and peripheral material, operating within a JIT model of internal compilation.

Subsequent text provides more detail on the xxxxx controller family, registers, instruction set, interrupts and shift timing.

P I K S E L 0 7 — Hello hackability!

===========================
|  Piksel07 :: Festival   |
|  November 15-18 2007    |
|                         |
|  Piksel07 :: Exhibition |
|  Nov 16 - Dec.16 2007   |
===========================

The night featured great performances on the theme of circuit bending and DIY electronic musical instruments.

MOBDOG by Jan Carleklev (SE) was a live concert built around the concept of transformation: nine e-dogs, the latest happy meal mc donalds toy, were modified and controlled by processing through an arduino card. The result was a beautiful music and a strange atmosphere.

Loud Objects by Kunal Gupta & Tristan Perich (USA) was a beautiful live audiovisual soldering show: the set was built in front of the public on overhead projector. The preliminary circuit is constructed from scratch, with electonics and soldering irons.

Gijs Gieskes made a brilliant audiovisual show playing his own instruments and a mechanical simple kaleidoscope. The music was good, happy and danceable, the visuals were charismatic and intriguing.

MIKMO (DK) was a slow, longing electronic music concert from modified toys. The set was visually interesting, especially the transparent balls.

Casperelectronics made a short set of nice music with his own instruments.

The spanish electronic music band Yes Robot, using circuitbended instruments & gameboy made a great audiovisual set, for the joy of the pikselers dancing and screaming in front of the stage.

The selection process for piksel07 is more or less finished.
We had a record number of more than 150 project proposals this year,
and the task of choosing among the large number of highly qualified
projects has been a challenging and joyful one!

The preliminary list of participants is here:

http://www.piksel.no/pwiki/P07Participants

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

The deadline for Piksel07 proposals is now over and we are
busy doing final selections.

Notifications of the results can be expected around august 10.

— piksel07 team —

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

The deadline for project submissions to Piksel07 has been extended to july 31. 2007!

Please see the open call for submission guidelines:
http://www.piksel.no/piksel07

and use the submission form for project proposals:
http://www.piksel.no/piksel07/subform.html

xxxxx call for participation in a speculative 12 hour life coding
event (organising hardware and software) to be held in Mid-November
as part of Piksel festival:http://www.piksel.no/

Deadline for email submission: July 31st 12AM [midnight]

Life coding is a mapping of the descriptive means of hardware and
programming onto the world. In this instance it includes the invention
and construction of models and language to actively describe and code
the event; instructing, structuring, re-structuring and constructing
the 12 hours. Life coding is obviously influenced by the existence of
programming, fiction, scripting and execution.

Participation is not limited to potential forms including:

– performative presentations
– advanced participatory workshops
– actions
– interventions

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

— Piksel07
— november 15-18 2007

— call for participation
— deadline july 15. 2007

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

Call for projects – Installations, performances, presentations.