African Robots is a project by South African artist and researcher Ralph Borland to create interactive electronic street art. ‘Street art’ in this instance means art sold by people on the street, in South Africa and Zimbabwe – usually forms of handicraft using inexpensive materials like fencing and electrical wire, beads and waste wood, plastic and metal. Continue reading

Turbulence Commission: Empire State by Steve Klise [To observe, visit after sunset EST. To create, visit anytime]

Empire State transmits camera flashes from the Empire State Building’s observation deck in New York City to the virtual observation deck of your computer screen. It also provides step-by-step instructions on how to create a LEGO replica of the iconic building, which lights up every time a visitor takes a photograph of Manhattan at night. Empire State is a continuous feedback loop of physical and virtual architectures (building/model/code) and of the perceptions of sightseers both on-site and on-line. The actual is recorded, translated, transmitted, and received. The observers are the observed. Continue reading

“Perception, in whatever sensory modality, is the result of the brain’s cartographic skill.” Antonio Dimasio

New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc. (NRPA) invites you to propose a hybrid net art project for Turbulence.org – Augment it Yourself (AiY). Projects must use both the World Wide Web and a physical site :: Deadline: July 1, 2014 :: Commission Amount: $6,000 :: Commission Date: July 2015.

• The behavior of all particles is contingent on the presence of a conscious observer.
• Our internal and external perceptions are inextricably connected.
• Reality is the perpetual enfolding/unfolding of autopoiesis (self-making), in relationship with others and our environment.

Continue reading

Right or Risk? The 1st Public BioBrick: Exploring Public Access to the Tools of Synthetic Biology :: September 24, 2012; 7:00 – 9:00 PM (BST) :: Grant Museum of Zoology, London, United Kingdom.

Synthetic Biology is turning genetic engineering into a simple exercise, with thousands of DNA components – BioBricks – available to program bacteria. What if ordinary citizens want access to these tools? Now, for the first time, UCL have teamed up with a group of ‘biohackers’ (citizen scientists in molecular biology) to create the world’s first ‘Public BioBrick’. Join us for an evening exhibition and Q&A hosted by UCL iGEM with C-LAB. Continue reading

Proof-of-Process :: June 5-10, 2012; 12:00 – 6:00 pm :: Gallery Gachet, 88 E. Cordova, Vancouver, Canada. Continue reading

The Interception series of actions consists of the illegal interception of CCTV cameras monitoring urban areas. Continue reading

A group of activists, educators, technologists, and community organizers now known as Public Laboratory came together to organize the Gulf Oil Mapping project. Since May 2010, we have been working with New Orleans-based Louisiana Bucket Brigade to get Gulf Coast residents out on boats and along beaches to produce high-resolution aerial imagery of the spill’s effects. All the imagery from this project is being released into the public domain.

Grassroots Mapping is part of the Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science, founded by a group of activists, educators, technologists, and community organizers interested in new ways to promote action, intervention, and awareness through a participatory research model. Continue reading

Dead Drops Master Class with Aram Bartholl :: June 29, 2011; 10:00 am – 4:00 pm :: V2_, Eendrachtsstraat 10, Rotterdam.

The term “Dead drops” refers to places where spies leave information behind to be picked up by others; a method often used among spies during the Cold War. In Aram Bartholl’s version of the dead drop, USB memory sticks are installed in public locations for anyone to upload or download information. By doing so, an anonymous, offline, peer-to-peer network for the exchange of digital information is created. More information about the project and current Dead Drop locations is available here. Continue reading

Monetary Utopias with Jaromil & Marco Sachy, Enric Duran, Christian Nold, Mansour Ciss Kanakassy, Baruch Gottlieb :: CONFERENCE: MCDate – le café numérique | Upgrade! Paris with Mal au Pixel Festival; June 17, 2011; 7:00 pm :: Maison des Métallos, 94 Rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud, 75011 Paris + and on Digitalarti live stream.

For its sixth edition, Mal au Pixel Festival — dedicated to the Open Source and DIY Cultures — looks at the issue of alternative money and currencies through a series of public lectures. This conferences panel is associated to an exhibition at Plateforme Gallery, with Paolo Cirio, Baruch Gottlieb & Mansour Ciss Kanakassy, DYNDY, Christian Nold. Continue reading

Making is Connecting: The Social Meaning of Creativity, from DIY and Knitting to YouTube and Web 2.0 by David Gauntlett (read Henry Jenkins’ interviews with him: Part 1, Part 2): In Making is Connecting, David Gauntlett argues that, through making things, people engage with the world and create connections with each other. Both online and offline, we see that people want to make their mark on the world, and to make connections.

During the previous century, the production of culture became dominated by professional elite producers. But today, a vast array of people are making and sharing their own ideas, videos and other creative material online, as well as engaging in real–world crafts, art projects and hands–on experiences.

Gauntlett argues that we are seeing a shift from a ‘sit–back–and–be–told culture′ to a ‘making–and–doing culture′. Continue reading