Hack The Public

On Saturday 2nd February myself and 15 other artists/hackers/tinkerers/people descended upon West Bromwich to hack The Public. A little more about what it actually is:

The Gallery Hack Camp is a new initiative developed by The Public and the first delivered in February 2013. It will bring together artists, producers, creative entrepreneurs and technologists from across the West Midlands and wider United Kingdom.

We aim to develop new ideas at the intersection of art, technology and culture. Setting out to make new work which you would like to see in a gallery of the future. It is also intended to be an active community of peer learning and development.

I was personally interested in converting the railings that go along the walkway into a kind of guitar or harp. All that you’d need is a vibration sensor hooked up to an Arduino that would trigger a sound to play on Pure Data. Easy, in theory…

It was very interesting to see that most of the other ideas ignored the infrastructures already in place for installations and instead either worked around them, or were situated in unlikely places

Hack The Public Weekend

Me and David.Checkley doing very safe things. Don’t tell the HSE!

Hack The Public Weekend

Hack The Public Weekend
More photos here

No thing has been developed for this yet, but hopefully one of the may exciting ideas developed over the weekend will be making its way to The Public soon!

Pop! Bang! Wallop! – TROVE’s 3rd Birthday Party

TROVE, whom I recently did an exhibition with, will be celebrating its third birthday on 12th October 2012 5-9pm. To celebrate this occasion they’ve invited past artists and collaborators to exhibit some work with them

TROVE's 3rd Birthday

Over the past three years TROVE have worked with 146 local, national and international artists that have created, exhibited and performed as part of TROVE’s programme.

TROVE have realised over 36 shows in the wonderful TROVE home, the Old Science Museum, and in offsite projects, with venues including Curzon Street Station, mac birmingham, Edible Eastside, DownStairs Gallery, FarGo, The Burlington Fine Art Club, Coexist and ARC.

TROVE is an independent art gallery who have worked with Fierce Festival, Hereford Photography Festival, Hedge Enquiry, Minnie Weisz Studio, Museum of Lost Heritage, Birmingham Architects Association, Birmingham City Council, Clarke Gallery, Birmingham City University and Crowd 6.

At Pop! Bang! Wallop! there will be presents, piñatas and pass the parcel! There will be artworks and cards from past TROVE artists! There will be a bouncy castle! And much much more!

Come and celebrate TROVE’s 3rd Birthday on 12th October 2012 5-9pm.

TROVE, Newhall Square, off 144 Newhall Street, Birmingham, B3 1RY

To celebrate the occasion, in addition to making/glitch a birthday card, I circuit bent a toy for them:

A present for TROVE

I received this toy as a present from the micro residency that I did in 2011 at Fargo Hack Play Space. Although it’s really small, this toy contains a lot of bits to bend and break! The toy originally played several nursery rhymes, contained a single-purpose light and had its own speaker and headphone port.

A present for TROVE

Using great science a lot of guesswork I added in a light-dependant resistor to control the speed of playback, repurposed the light switch to reset the device and made the light only turn on when noise is being made. Pressing and holding the play and skip button causes the speed of playback to double (or triple). I also replaced the sticker on the front with some of my own art. The below video probably explains it a lot better than words ever could:


(If pictures are worth 1000 words then the above video is worth 2095000 words)

TOYBOX at TROVE

TOYBOX at TROVE opened on Friday 15th June. The opening was a great success! Thanks to everyone who braved the rained and came to the opening.

The exhibition featured modified and hacked toys and similar-themed films and performances. Here’s the toys:

TOYBOX at TROVE

Horsing Around by James Gill

TOYBOX at TROVE

Untitled by Katy Morrison


TOYBOX at TROVE

Panther by David Lee


TOYBOX at TROVE

Centrifugal Bumble-Puppy by Claire Davies


TOYBOX at TROVE

Untitled by Sam Underwood


TOYBOX at TROVE

Mid Life Crisis by Duncan McKellar

And here’s a video of some of the more interactive toys in action

The opening also included performances from Richard Peel, Daniel Salisbury and Kate Spence, as well as videos from Emilie Crew, Rosie Curtis & Steph Bryant and Maria Mattos.

Charlie Levine has also written an overview of the opening with some additional pictures

Thanks again to everyone that came!

TOYBOX at TROVE, Friday 15th June

The show that I’m curating with TROVE opens to the public on Friday June 15th from 6pm

TOYBOX at TROVE

Artists include: Rosie Curtis & Steph Bryant, Emilie Crewe, Claire Davies, James Gill, David Lee, Maria Mattos, Duncan McKellar, Kate Morrison, Richard Peel, Daniel Salisbury, Kate Spence and Sam Underwood

In June 2012 TROVE, with Antonio Roberts, are hosting an exhibition about toys. This project leads on from the discovery that the Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham, where TROVE is based, used to produce more ‘toys’ than jewellery, guns or pens during the industrial revolution; all things it is now more famously known for producing. When researching what toys were produced in this area of Birmingham it was discovered that the term ‘toys’ was used to describe items such as buttons, cuff-links and belt buckles.

With the misinterpretation of the word ‘toys’ TROVE are presenting an exhibition of the contemporary understanding of the word. With a mixture of performance (preview night only), film and modified/hacked toys, this group exhibition is lively, fun and playful.

Preview: 15th June 2012 6-8pm
Open: 16th, 23rd and 24th June 2012 1-4pm

or by appointment
email info@TROVE.org.uk for further information

TROVE, Newhall Square,
Off 144 Newhall Street,
Birmingham,
B3 1RZ (map)

TROVE call out for toys

In June 2012 I’ll be co-curating an exhibition about toys at/with TROVE and Daniel Salisbury. More info, including how to get involved, is below:

Toy Box at TROVE

Image by Daniel Salisbury

TROVE is an independent art space in Birmingham, UK, which run a monthly changing programme of contemporary art exhibitions/events.

In June 2012 TROVE are hosting an exhibition about toys. This project leads on from the discovery that the Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham, where TROVE is based, used to produce more ‘toys’ than jewellery, guns or pens; all things it is now more famously known for producing. When researching what toys were produced in this area of Birmingham it was discovered that the term ‘toys’ was used to describe items such as buttons, cuff-links and belt buckles.

Calling all hackers and Circuit-benders

With the misinterpretation of the word ‘toys’ TROVE are looking for actual toys, as is the current understanding of the word, that have been altered, hacked, modified or electronically changed, rather than ‘toys’ meaning belt buckles, buttons etc.

Sound like something for you? Email me with your hacked creations (antonio@hellocatfood.com) and include:

  • your CV and a short personal statement
  • a short description of the work/toys
  • links to online footage of the toy is available
  • max 6 photographs of the toy/s you are proposing

The deadline for submissions is 6th May 2012

Notes for application:

  • please make sure you can deliver and collect your toys from TROVE (map); 11th/12th June for drop off and 24th June for collection.
  • If the toys require power, only applications where toys are battery powered will be accepted

This exhibition is also looking for films about toys to show. More info on that is here.

Happy hacking!

Circuit Bending at Fargo Hack Play Space

On Sunday 27th November I did a one-day micro-residency at Fargo Hack Play Space in Coventry. I was asked to bring unfinished projects, completed projects or something completely new that I wanted to start on. I have a fair bit of Pure Data and Processing code and ideas that need(ed) a lot of attention but I had serious doubts of whether they could be completed in six hours.

To say I had absolutely no idea what I was going to achieve in one day would be quite an understatement.

Fargo Hack Play Space

In the end I took along my laptop, the unfinshed audio cable hack, an Arduino, and the Vtech Learning Alphabet Classroom Toy toy that I had previously bought for a fizzPOP Circuit Bending Hack Session:

My previous attempts to hack it back then were largely unsuccessful. I was able to cut out the audio completely and break the toy on several occasions, but what I was after was a way to control or glitch the audio and LCD screen.

Fargo Hack Play Space

Part of my problem was that there were very few components to play around with. Aside from the buttons themselves all I had was a circuit board that had very tiny components.

Thankfully, with the help of Dom and Ashley I was able to locate the resistors and attach a potentiometer. Results varied throughout the day, but I was able to get it producing something out of the ordinary!

But then it borked.

Regardless, it’s progress! I’ll be continuing work on it soon, and may even try hooking up the buttons to an Arduino or my computer to trigger other things.

Thanks to Dom and Ashley for inviting me down there for the day, and for the pizza 🙂

Fargo Hack Play Space

This Sunday (i.e. today) I’ll be doing a micro residency (i.e. one day) at Fargo Hack Play Space in Coventry, UK (i.e. not Birmingham)

(i.e. (i.e. (i.e. (i.e. (i.e.)))))

This Sunday we will be hosting the Fargo Hack Play Space, an informal exhibition and sharing of new work from our residency at the Talking Birds curated Fargo Space.

We love watching people play with the Don’t Touch Screen at Warwick Arts Centre; that little moment of joy people feel as they realise they are in control of the piece, no matter the technology. We were keen to try and create something new that explored that same interaction between analogue and digital.

There’ll be a circuit bending session from 10am, but do contact @ludicrooms to see if there’s still places available.

I’ve no idea what I’ll be making yet, but I’m sure it’ll involve me breaking lots of stuff into tiny insignificant pieces.

GLI.TC/H BIRM preview: Jon Satrom

GLI.TC/H has started and on Saturday November 19th it’ll be making its way to VIVID in Birmingham, UK! The full programme is available here, and as a PDF. Over the week I’ll be providing a bitesized overview of the upcoming events.

Realtime A/V: Jon Satrom

Jon Satrom presents a prepared desktop performance, where he uses the operating system itself as an instrument:

Bio

Satrom spends his days fixing things and making things work. He spends his evenings breaking things and searching for unique blips inherent to the systems he explores and exploits. Satrom teaches a course on Glitch Art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, runs a creative web and video studio called Studio Thread, performs real-time audio/video, creates colorful glitch-ware, and is involved in various collective online and offline new-media efforts.
 
 

Meta

GLI.TC/H 20111 will include works from over 100 participants from more than a dozen countries and will be taking place in virtual-space at http://gli.tc/h and in real-space

For more details visit: http://gli.tc/h | http://glidottcslashh.tumblr.com/ | https://www.facebook.com/glidottcslashh | @GLIDOTTCSLASHH

GLI.TC/H BIRM is part of The Garage presents… programme from VIVID and is supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and Birmingham City University

GLI.TC/H BIRM preview: Art of Failure

GLI.TC/H has started and on Saturday November 19th it’ll be making its way to VIVID in Birmingham, UK! The full programme is available here, and as a PDF. Over the week I’ll be providing a bitesized overview of the upcoming events.

Realtime A/V: Art of Failure

Nicolas Maigret of Art of Failure will perform 8 Silences, which is a completely audio-only performance:

8 silences offers a sensible representation of Internet by broadcasting audio streams that travel and reverberate trough the web. Initially silents, the streams progressively incorporate an infinity of transformations or “errors” that modify the sound as it circulates on the network. These alterations are comparable to a form of erosion caused by the network space – they are a key to allow different mental representations of this digital topography. Presented as a live performance, 8 silences is a sound immersion in the heart of data flows.
8 silences is a live piece made from mixing together several silent ogg and mp3 stream loops with different quality settings (error corrections are bypassed). Each loop is going to a different location on the globe, and then coming back to the location of the concert venue. Performers stand with a laptop in different parts of the venue (non scenic performance). The audio streamloops are exchanged in wifi around the public.

Here’s the audio from a performance of 8 Silences in Paris in 2010:
Art Of Failure : 8 silences live @ IRL Paris 2010 by artoffailure

Bio

The imperfections allow to identify a medium, in the style of glass becoming visible by the accumulated dusts and scratches. Within the ART OF FAILURE collective, Nicolas Maigret and Nicolas Montgermont experiment the capacity of the contemporary technologies to generate specific sound or visual languages. In their realizations, the internal characteristics of the media are revealed through their errors, dysfunctions, borderlines or failure threshold, which they develop sensory and immersive audio visual experiences.

Meta

GLI.TC/H 20111 will include works from over 100 participants from more than a dozen countries and will be taking place in virtual-space at http://gli.tc/h and in real-space

For more details visit: http://gli.tc/h | http://glidottcslashh.tumblr.com/ | https://www.facebook.com/glidottcslashh | @GLIDOTTCSLASHH

GLI.TC/H BIRM is part of The Garage presents… programme from VIVID and is supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and Birmingham City University

GLI.TC/H BIRM preview: Minuek and Chromatouch

GLI.TC/H has started and on Saturday November 19th it’ll be making its way to VIVID in Birmingham, UK! The full programme is available here, and as a PDF. Over the week I’ll be providing a bitesized overview of the upcoming events.

Realtime A/V: Minuek and Chromatouch

The second of our Realtime A/V performances comes from UK-based VJs Minuek and Chromatouch. Here they are as a part of the VJ collective Freecode earlier in the year:

Bio

Minuek is a UK based Audio Visual artist. Starting out doing video for the Brighton based Wrong Music label. He has worked doing live visuals at various festivals and events around the UK. Performing Audio Visual sets since 2008 working with node based creation tools. He is part of the Freecode Audio Visual collective, a group of artists exploring realtime audio and video that started from a performance at the ÊExyzt ‘Burningham’ installation at this years Fierce Festival in Birmingham. The collective have performed various shows in unique locations over the intervening months.

Bio

leon trimble goes under the name chromatouch and has been tweaking digital stuff since the last millenium. starting making music on amigas in the early 90s he progressed to noodling with graphics and 3d animation. by the time the millenium bug failed to materialise he’d started using pcs and become a web designer. video editing and photography had taken hold of his creative bent by this time and he started making visuals for dance clubs. having become fairly popular locally and further afield he started turning to more artistic avenues using his skills to express leftfield ideas of light.

Meta

GLI.TC/H 20111 will include works from over 100 participants from more than a dozen countries and will be taking place in virtual-space at http://gli.tc/h and in real-space

For more details visit: http://gli.tc/h | http://glidottcslashh.tumblr.com/ | https://www.facebook.com/glidottcslashh | @GLIDOTTCSLASHH

GLI.TC/H BIRM is part of The Garage presents… programme from VIVID and is supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and Birmingham City University