Each Occupy.here router is a LAN island in an archipelago of affiliated websites.
Anyone within range of an Occupy.here wifi router, with a web-capable smartphone or laptop, can join the network “OCCUPY.HERE,” load the locally-hosted website http://occupy.here, and use the message board to connect with other users nearby. The open source forum software offers a simple, mobile-friendly interface where users can share messages and files.
The project has developed in parallel with the Occupy movement and seeks to offer a network of virtual spaces where both committed activists and casual supporters can communicate.
Due to its distributed and autonomous design, Occupy.here is inherently resistant to Internet surveillance. Building up a collective network infrastructure that is owned and controlled by its users can lay the groundwork for other uses and applications. We don’t have to choose between abstaining from social media and entrusting our data to corporate interests. We just need to take a greater responsibility for our own online services.
]]>“Science and technology develop the unknown, not knowledge”. – Paul Virilio
Psychoheliophysics is a neologic spasm on the precipice of conceptualisation… it is semi-hollow, a semi-empty container that is ready. It awaits received meaning. Solar escape routes precipitate the future through collective modes of sensation and perception. Join us in a collective exploration of Virilio’s unknown through the creation of “Sun Tongs” – Technologies designed with the potential to couple / decouple the sun during musical creation!
Sun Tong ecologies include:
Photovoltaic Sonification & Data Logging // Satellite Data Audition // Radiotelescopes // Solar Tempest Channelling Trees // CMOS Liquid Light Synthesisers // Rechargeable Battery Capture of Light Energy and subsequent reuse in performance.
We propose a series of workshops and field trips to take place during the Piksel festival investigating notions of earth/solar connection, diy scientific instruments as tools for musical expression and expanding human creativity through the use of open source electronics (Arduino), software (Arduino IDE and Pure Data), freely available and recycled materials. The workshops will be free for participants. All materials will be free to use in the workshop / performance. Optionally, participants want to take any “Sun Tongs” they have built home they can pay for materials at cost price)
Workshop Outline
WORKSHOP 1 // Data Logging
Build open source data loggers using atmel chipsets programmed using the Arduino IDE. Examine open source libraries. Explore data log files. Explore techniques for the conversion of data logs to sound using Pure Data.
WORKSHOP 2 // Field Trip
Real time – explore the uses of photovoltaic cells and photovoltaic materials.
WORKSHOP 3 // Online Data Sets
Explore data available online and construct musical instruments to transmogrify and sonify this data. Typical transmogrifications include transforming textual data into light and then in turn converting light into sound.
WORKSHOP 4 // Performance Demonstration
Rehearsal, preparation. Share the findings and constructed instruments as a performance demonstration as part of Piksel.
Booking
To book a place please contact Ben Freeth:
b.c.freeth@newcastle.ac.uk
]]>4-hour workshop of building DIY electronic instruments developed and used by Theremidi Orchestra.
The workshop will be conducted in a free manner and all interactions should be part of the process. Throughout the workshop some contextual historic and technological information will be given in a non-linear fashion.
TouchTone is a feedback amplifier system using all six inverters (inverting amplifiers) of the CMOS 4049
chip – said in simple words – TouchTone is a simple noise synth to be played directly with your fingers.
The board was insipired by Dirty Electronics and was developed by the Theremidi members.
MicroNoise is another synthesizer gadget with photosensitive controls (light sensor) developed by
Christoph Stähli and Marc Dusseiller SGMK (http://www.mechatronicart.ch/) and pimped by the TO. It’s a
simple type of double channel LFO (Low Frequency Oscillator) and light dependent audio frequency
oscillator (OSC), whereby the latter is modulated by the former. That means that OSC is modulated by the
LFO.
Theremini is a small theremin and hand proximity “instrument”.
This project is an ongoing and potentially infinite series of videos, each of which is unique, self-describing and 10 minutes in duration.
As of the 6th of November 2013 the project consists of 38300 videos which have a combined duration of approximately 266 days. Up to date information and a partial archive of videos can be found online at: http://willburnswebsite.com
The videos are produced using a combination of ImageMagick, FFmpeg and a BASH script running on Ubuntu, all of which are free and open-source. During the festival the videos will be played using a RaspberryPi.
]]>This project is an ongoing and potentially infinite series of 10 minute videos that features a persistent number (which began as 0) to which 1 is either added or subtracted, based on a 50% chance, 10 times a second.
As of the 6th of November 2013 the project consists of 7768 videos and the process of addition or subtraction has occurred 46615768 times; the number is currently -1660. Up to date information and a partial archive of videos can be found online at: http://willburnswebsite.com
The videos are produced using a combination of ImageMagick, FFmpeg and a BASH script running on Ubuntu, all of which are free and open-source. During the festival the videos will be played using a RaspberryPi.
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Idoru() is an interactive sound performance that explores wearable technology and the body as an interface to control sound. The project wishes to address issues of body augmentation through the use of electronic textiles, creating an enhanced hyper-body, that generates useful data, that can be translated into frequencies and thus, generate an interactive soundscape. The system model, is a hybrid between the biological body and its technological augmentations, that without being pervasive to the body itself, allows the performer to extend its biological capabilities, though the use of subtle technologies. Conceptually, the project is influenced by cyberpunk literature as described by William Gibson and the japanese AI performer Rei Toei in his 1996 novel “Idoru”. Idoru, is a female virtual entity, that manifests herself only through her performances, creating this way a unique and personalized experience for her audience. Likewise, the Idoru performance is about creating an artificial entity, that comes to life through sound, body and space exploration, with the intention to create an immersive environment for herself and the public. Sonically, the project is influenced by early electronic music experimentation and the sci-fi aesthetics of Delia Derbyshire and Louis and Bebe Barron.
Through the use of a LilyPad Arduino microprocessor and an XBee wireless antena, the garment worn by the performer is connected to sound generators, sine and noise oscillators reactive to the performers gestures, controlled by accelerometers that are located in the wrists of the garment. The design references a retro-futuristic aesthetic, influenced by cult films like THX 1138. It is characterized by its minimal and sophisticated lines, referencing science fiction films uniforms and Star Wars Princess Leia’s high neck line white dress, but with adding a contemporary twist, incorporating black lace in the sleeves.
Video documentation from the performance in Athens:
]]>“Through a process of improvisation I seek out behaviors which are pleasing to my senses and beyond my ability to fully understand and predict. At this point I am both performer and audience, free to viscerally appreciate the experience as well as drive it forward. I then transform these behaviors into new states which contrast the previous and build a sense of purpose and momentum. This is where the human voice emerges, not within the timbre or melodic structure, but within the presence of momentum.” ]]>
MicroFlo is a flow-based programming runtime for microcontrollers (like Arduino); allowing you to program stand-alone microcontroller projects in a visual manner. In a wider scope, the project aims to explore whether one can make
complex heterogeneous and interactive systems easier to understand, develop and verify – by using tools and approaches focused on our capabilities for visual thinking.
In this performance I challenge myself to build twenty sound generating square wave oscillators in twenty minutes. This involves fabricating small electronic circuits with wires, chips, small components and nine-volt batteries under the pressure of limited time and expectation. This is a test of my technical abilities and an exercise in embracing live troubleshooting as a method of musical improvisation.
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