Random String microFestival, 11th June

In addition to delivering a presentation on at the Symposium on 10th June, on 11th June I’ll have some new work available for viewing at the Random String microFestival.

rsmicrofestival

The Random String microFestival is an exciting day exploring technology and art.

Digital artworks, interactive installations, hands-on arts activities and workshops will fill the City Arcade, including the Shop Front Theatre, Artspace’s City Arcadia and in the recently opened FabLab Coventry.

Last Day

For the microFetsival I will produce a new vinyl installation work called Last Day.

last_day_gif

Last Day is a piece that highlights the fragility of financial markets and the unpredictable nature of consumer habits, market forces and trends. The effects of these have been far reaching, seeing once thriving retail parks home to small businesses and former retail giants rendered as ghost towns of empty units. The choice of imagery shows that nothing is too big to fail.

The piece will be installed in the window of Unit 22 at the City Arcade.

Last Day workshop

To accompany the installation, during the mircoFestival you will be invited to create your own shop window honouring our favourite defunct brands!

The microFestival takes place 11th June 11:00 – 16:00 at the City Arcade in Coventry and is completely free

Pecha Kucha Coventry Volume 14

On 11th June I took the fast train to Coventry to take part in Pecha Kucha Volume 14, which was curated by Ludic Rooms for Coventry Mysteries Festival.

Game Boy Camera photography

Pecha Kucha Coventry Vol 14

Game Boy Camera set-up

One of my two primary reasons for being there was to take pictures using my Game Boy Camera. Despite it being a piece of kit that’s 15 years old, the camera was quite a hit, with over 60 people lining up to have their portrait taken in four shades of grey and printed out onto a one-inch sticker.

Pecha Kucha Coventry Volume 14 Pecha Kucha Coventry Volume 14 Pecha Kucha Coventry Volume 14 Pecha Kucha Coventry Volume 14

Pecha Kucha Coventry Volume 14 Pecha Kucha Coventry Volume 14 Pecha Kucha Coventry Volume 14 Pecha Kucha Coventry Volume 14

There are, of course numerous phone apps for Android and iPhone that aim to reproduce the 8 Bit aesthetic of the Game Boy Camera, but nothing can be better than the real thing! To transfer the photos I was using this method, which worked flawlessly! There was a 10 minute wait whilst I developed the film transferred the pictures, but this was still much faster than using the Mad Catz Camera Link cable.

hellocatfood/Arctic Sunrise/Bitjam performance

The other reason for my appearance was to perform with Arctic Sunrise (one half of Ludic Rooms) and Bitjam on a post-Pecha Kucha noise fest!

As usual, I took to the VJ deck whilst they kicked out the jams. Here’s a sample of the output

This was created using video synthesis in Pure Data. There’ll be more talk of that in a later blog post.

It was a shame that I missed most of the talks, but I was otherwise glad to be part of such a successful event! Thanks to Ludic Rooms for inviting me over!