Monthly Archives: April 2016

Algorave @ Ravensbourne, 6th May

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On 6th May I’ll be back in London for visuals duties at Algorave @ Ravensbourne.

ravealgorave

On Friday, May 6th 2016 from 6-11pm Ravensbourne’s new BA Design & Coding course is happy to sponsor the first Algorave@Rave, an audiovisual concert featuring live performers from across the world who elevate coding to an art.

Experimental, algorithm-aided, genre-misled, live-coded sound and visuals from the future coming to life before your eyes; bleeps, crashes, warts and all. Algorave is punk music of the next generation.

The lineup includes RGGTRN, Sam Aaron, Alexandra Cárdenas, Canute and Benoit and the Mandelbrots.

Tickets are just £3.50 and can be bought from here.

MTV Visual Ident

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I’m happy to finally share with the internet (and the TV) the visual ident I made for MTV

If you’re living anywhere except for the US or UK you can see it on your TV screens. For eveyrone else there’s the internet! A massive thanks goes to MTV for inviting me to make an ident – a process which I’ll hopefully write about soon.

mtv_1

mtv_2

mtv_3

Enjoy!

Flatpack Film Festival – 10th Birthday Party – 23rd April

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Flatpack Film Festival turns 10 this year!! To help celebrate I’ll be providing a few gifs and animations for their birthday party on 23rd April, 21:00 at The Edge.

gif made with content by colours07

gif made with content by colours07

Help us blow out the candles on ten years of festivaling, as we celebrate the coming of age and reaching double figures with a traditional Digbeth bacchanal. Our friends electric from over the years will be joining us to make joyful noises and brain-melting visuals including DJ’s Grindi (Club Unlikely), Lisa (Capsule) and Harun (Fierce Festival) and projections from Antonio (Hellocatfood) and Sellotape Cinema.

There will be bubbles, balloons, birthday cake and some competitive party-hat making.

Party starts at 21:00 on 23rd April.

Flatpack Film Festival – Mothwasp – 23rd April

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On 23rd April Mothwasp – Matt Watkins and Steven Taylor – will be returning to Flatpack Film Festival to perform as part of the Optical Sound series of events.

mothwasp

Multi-disciplinary artist Matt Watkins joins forces with drummer Steven Taylor (Calvados Beam Trio) to explore the intersection of moving image, noise, electronics, mechanics and abstraction. With a penchant for defunct analogue media the duo experiment with 16mm film, tape, slide projectors, paint and DIY electronics, in conjunction with modern digital apparatus to create live, semi-improvised, audio-responsive cinematic experiences. Taking inspiration from filmmakers Len Lye, Ken Jacobs, the playful graphic sensibility of Bruno Munari, and the demise of Birmingham’s brutalist architecture, Watkins’ baritone guitar, Taylor’s drumming, Cage-inspired prepared piano experiments, field recordings and homemade electronics drive a visual and sonic maelstrom. For fans of noise, drone, chaos and concrete.

Early in March 2016 I was asked by Matt Watkins to give advice in preparing for the performance. It’s been quite an interesting experience, primarily because my practice is mostly digital and one of Mothwasp’s remits is to experiment with analogue technology. The performance takes place 19:15 – 20:30 on April 23rd at the Birmingham and Midland Institute. I won’t be joining them on stage but I encourage you all to see the performance!

Permission Taken launch photos

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It’s been open since 2nd March and now the second part of Permission Taken, taking place at the Bramall Music Building at University of Birmingham, had its launch event on 7th April from 17:30 – 19:30.

Permission Taken launch

Permission Taken launch

Permission Taken launch

Permission Taken launch

Many thanks to everyone that turned up and heard my short speech and drank all the wine. The exhibition continues at the Bramall Music Building until 30th May.

An Introduction to 3D Scanning and Printing, 14 – 16th May

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Black Hole Club (the thing that I run) has teamed up with Workshop Birmingham and Backface to present a 3D Scanning and Printing workshop.

3dprintingscanning

Part 1: Saturday 14 May, 10am–5pm.
Venue: Eastside Projects

Led by Tim Milward of backface, a 3D scanning and printing company based in Digbeth, this practical workshop will introduce you to Photogrammetry a 3D scanning process that combines multiple photographic images to create high resolution textured digital ‘objects’ which can be 3D printed or used in digital contexts.

In this practical workshop Tim will demonstrate his professional scanning rig and equipment and will also introduce us to free software that artists and designers can use to make 3D scans. Workshop participants will scan a small object and then, under Tim’s guidance, will use free software to clean up and optimise the resulting 3D mesh and prepare it for 3D printing.

Part 2, Monday 16 May, 6–9pm
Venue: Vivid Projects, Minerva Works, Fazeley St.

Led by artist Antonio Roberts this workshop will introduce participants to Blender a free and open source 3D creation suite which supports the entirety of the 3D pipeline from modeling, rigging and animation to simulation, rendering, compositing and motion tracking.

Using the 3D meshes produced during Part 1 as a starting point, Antonio will introduce the basics of modifying meshes and optimizing them for 3D printing.

Full details are available on the Workshop Birmingham website. The total cost for the two day workshop is £25 and tickets can be bought here.

Permission Taken launch, 7th April

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It’s been open since 2nd March and now the second part of Permission Taken, taking place at the Bramall Music Building at University of Birmingham, will be having its launch event on 7th April from 17:30 – 19:30.

Join us this Thursday 7 April in the Bramall Music Building from 17.30 for the launch of Permission Taken! This exhibition displays work by Antonio Roberts created during his 2014/15 artist-residency at the University of Birmingham. Roberts focused on issues surrounding copyright, permission culture and art: issues which become ever more pertinent as online communities become more prolific and harder to police.

Permission Taken

Permission Taken

This iteration of the exhibition presents some of the work exhibited at Birmingham Open Media alongside works made for the Remix Party! in addition to a reinterpretation of Dead Copyright.

Permission Taken

Permission Taken

Photo by Greg Milner

Please RSVP to rcc@contacts.bham.ac.uk if you wish to attend. The exhibition continues until 30th May.

Random String Fellowships

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The awesome folk at Ludic Room have announced that they are now running a Fellowship programme for their Random String event. If you’re interested in incorporating digital technology into your practice then read on. I’ll be one of the mentors on this programme.

randomstring

The Random String Fellowship is an opportunity open to artists and practitioners from any discipline, including visual arts, music, literature and performing arts, who are interested in embarking on a technology-focused creative enquiry.

We are looking for 6 enthusiastic mid-career artists with an established body of practice to explore how technology might make their work more interactive, develop a more meaningful relationship with audiences or explore future notions of co-creation and participatory practice.

What is the Fellowship?

The Fellowship is a comprehensive programme that includes:

  • 1-1 time with a Mentor to give training and support
  • Group development opportunities alongside other artists
  • Studio and exhibition visits
  • The option to spend time with academics from Warwick University
  • Attendance and presence at the Random String festival in June

We’ll also give each artist a stipend of £800 towards their time and expenses and we’ll provide £200 worth of technology to use in their enquiry and keep afterwards. We can also offer shared studio and hot-desking at our space in Coventry Canal Warehouse if required. There is no expectation that the Fellowship will result in a new body of work, this is an opportunity to play. We ask Fellows to honestly and openly experiment with the technology, share their experience via our blog through visual or textual means and to show any work in progress at the Symposium and at a final Pecha Kucha event charting your successes and failures.

randomstring_hacking

How do I apply?

The application process is very simple. Please complete the application form here, including uploading a CV and any supporting images or weblinks and write a short paragraph outlining what you find interesting about the Random String Fellowship programme.

The Fellowship is only open to artists who currently do not use routinely use interactive technology in their creative practice.

The deadline is 13:00 on 18th April. Get applying now!

Algorave Leeds, 29th April

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On 29th April I’ll be back up north ( <3 ) to join some of my favourite people for an Algorave in Leeds. leedsalgoapril

On visuals will be Rituals, hellocatfood (that’s me!), Chez.io and providing audio will be Alexandra Cardenas, Anny, Belisha Beacon, Foxdot, Joanne, Reggaetron, Sam Aaron, Uiaesk!,Yaxu with more to be announced

Hosted by the Open Data Institute Leeds and part of Leeds Digital Festival 2016. Tickets are on sale now and cost £6/£4.