geekgirl

Songs of Protest #5 by Nicholas Beckett #art #illustrations #geekgirl

Another fun zine cover by Saint Nick <saintbeckett.net>

songs-of-protest by nicholas beckett

The Human Rights Arts & Film Festival Launches Full Program #HRAFF #Melbourne #geekgirl

FESTIVAL OPENS WITH PAUL SIMON DOCO UNDER THE AFRICAN SKIES
15 – 27 May 2012

The fifth Human Rights Arts and Film Festival (HRAFF) will open on Tuesday 15 May with the highly anticipated documentary Under African Skies by award winning filmmaker Joe Berlinger.

Twenty-five years have passed since Paul Simon broke a UN cultural ban and entered South Africa to make the album Graceland. The album would go on to be a global phenomenon, salvaging his career while also polarising audiences. To mark this anniversary, Simon returns to South Africa to reunite with the Graceland musicians, and clear the air with his greatest critic, Artists Against Apartheid founder Dali Tambo. Under African Skies pays homage to this time.

Eleven days later, Jon Shenk’s The Island President will close the Festival. This is the story of President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, a man confronting a problem greater than any other world leader has ever faced. Having brought democracy to the Maldives after thirty years of despotic rule, Nasheed is now faced with an even greater challenge. As one of the most low-lying countries in the world, a rise of three feet in sea level would submerge the 1200 islands of the Maldives enough to make them uninhabitable. The Island President captures Nasheed’s first year of office, culminating in his trip to the Copenhagen Climate Summit in 2009. At the screening there will be a live video Q&A with the former President of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed.

With 15 Australian premieres, other highlights of the 19 film program include: award-winning documentary At Night They Dance which sheds light on the chaotic world of Egyptian belly dancers working in downtown Cairo;  based on the award-winning comic novel (Paco Roca, 2007), Wrinkles is an animated feature film about Emilio, who, in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, is sent by his son to live in an aged-care facility; Beer is Cheaper Than Therapy is a poignant documentary which examines the psychological distress suffered by numerous soldiers, offering a voice to those who are all too often lost in the discourse of war, the veterans themselves; and Australian feature film Fantome Island by Sean Gilligan which looks at Joe Eggmolesse, who at the age of seven was taken from his family, put on a train, and sent to a leprosarium on Fantome Island, located off the Queensland coast. Many years later, he returns to confront the memory of his childhood on the island, to pay tribute to those who lived and died there and to inscribe his own unique story into official Australian history.

FORUM - Extreme Reactions to Creative Expression
Sat 19 May, 5pm – ACMI, The Cube. Free Entry
Facilitator Richard Watts (3RRR) along with Ajak Kwai (singer/songwriter), Jeff Daniels (filmmaker) and Khadim Ali (artist) will discuss the cultural politics of extreme governmental responses towards creative expression.

FORUM – Off the Wall: Is Street Art an Appropriate Medium to Voice Human Rights Issues?
Wed 23 May, 5.30pm – Kaleide Theatre, RMIT. Free Entry
Public discourse surrounding street art is dominated by the continuing debate about cultural legitimacy and notions of ownership of public space. Yet, such discussions conceal one of the most important functions of street art, the creative freedom to be powerfully political and socially current. Partake in a lively discussion with facilitator Fiona Hillary along with Lachlan Macdowall (artist), Boo (stencil artist), Tom Civil (graffiti artist) and Kate Shaw.

FORUM - Flights of Fancy: the Ethics of Travel
Sat 26 May, 5pm – ACMI, The Cube. Free Entry
For many Australians, travel has become cheap and accessible. Yet, as the world keeps shrinking, and our mobility increasing, the decisions we make, be it as a high-flyer, a backpacker, or even a volunteer, have consequences on the world around us. Hear what facilitator Jeff Jarvis (International Research Unit Monash), and a panel including Jane Crouch (Intrepid), Andrew Abel (Surfing Assoc. of Papua New Guinea), Adam Pesce (filmmaker) and Dimity Fifer (Australian Volunteers International) have to say.

MUSIC – Rhythm & Rights
Sun 20 May, 1.30pm–7pm – Abbotsford Convent.
Move your feet, shake your body and feel the beat at HRAFF’s annual Rhythm & Rights event.  Tinpan Orange headline a full day of musical entertainment including: Sol Nation, The Hacketts, Alwan Bridgett, Cains Teame, Ersie Wadaiko, Rindo Musiki Manjaro, Leigh Woodburgess, Danny Al Sabbagh with Khaled Khalafalla as MC.  Taking over the Abbotsford Convent for one day only, the program consists of an exciting range of performers coming together over their shared commitment to the promotion of human rights culture through musical expression.

Art exhibition - Echoes of Others: Illuminating the gaps amid translation
Thu 17–27 May, 11am–5pm (Tue-Sat) 12pm–5pm (Sun) – No Vacancy, QV Building.
Human rights issues have become increasingly visible, broadcast through a variety of media, whose dissemination of information makes possible greater accessibility and detail. On the other, the inconsistencies of such technological access around the world continue to reinforce the widening gaps that exist between people and places. Whilst communication should be crisp and clear, it is, too often, broken, frozen and distorted, as the process of translation allows for interpretation, re-interpretation and, more often than not, misinterpretation. The work exhibited explores echoes both materially and conceptually, as voices are silenced, images fade and meaning is reconstructed.

Artists: Alexia Germain, Marliène Blain, Louis Philippelèvesque, Anita Belia, Baden Pailthorpe, Brad Haylock, Dinalie Dabarera, The Keiskamma Trust, Lex Randolph, Louise Hunter, Minela Krupic, Nasim Nasr, Sue Kneebone and Veronica Grow.

LISTING DETAILS
WHAT: The Human Rights Arts and Film Festival
WHEN: Tuesday 15 – Sunday 27 May 2012
WHERE: The Forum Theatre, ACMI and Abbotsford Convent
MORE INFO: www.hraff.org.au

Participate in Ars Electronica – Sound Cloud #arts #collaboration #cloud #geekgirl

The Cloud in the Net
Linz, Saturday, September 1, 2012

Breathtaking technical effects, spectacular interplay of human and robotic protagonists, thousands of brilliantly glowing letters and artistic illumination of the cityscape of the Austrian city of Linz itself, singing lightning bolts and wonderful worlds of sound compose this Klangwolke, an account of the interconnectedness of our world. The Brucknerhaus and Ars Electronica are precipitating the voestalpine Klangwolke, the cloud of sound that forms above the city of Linz in September. And anyone can become a part of this “cloud in the Net”; everyone can contribute their own musical fragments or homemade letters of light to this extravaganza.

By way of historical background: The Linzer Klangwolke (Cloud of Sound) is in every respect a truly extraordinary open-air event that has been held annually since 1979 in early September in the Donaupark of the Austrian city of Linz. This verdant oasis extending about 500 meters along the Danube riverbank right in the heart of downtown Linz is enveloped in a cloud of sound generated by 250,000 watts of electrical power. Its defining features are the innovative, creative use of new multimedia technologies, the enormous physical scale of the production itself, and the attendance regularly topping 100,000.

Taxonomy Lab call for submissions. ILK #1

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
http://taxonomylab.tumblr.com
Taxonomy Publishing invites you to submit your original art work for ILK MAGAZINE ISSUE #1.

ILK aims to present and disseminate the work of experimental artists in quarterly issues.

The form of each issue will be determined by the art submitted and we are open to ideas from artists. Sketches, Scans, Photographs, Texts,Visual Essays and more are welcome.

ILK #1 will be available in a limited edition PDF format for worldwide distribution via Taxonomy’s website. Not constrained by theme or medium, ILK welcomes audio and video links, text and images. Each buyer will receive a individually numbered digital issue for the price of a sub-standard cup of coffee. All funds go toward generating the next issue of ILK.

Issue 2 will contain both physical and digital editions

To submit:

A short bio.
Up to 6 good quality images you would like to have published in the first issue of ILK
Email taxonomypublishing@gmail.com

A short description of your work – 300 words max or sample of text or idea for spread.

Submission closes 30 April 2012

Mysterious Melbourne Multimedia show… by fuguestate #arts #geekgirl

MELBOURNE:  FUGUE STATE EVENT

“We hope that in the near future you will be able to make your way to an unfamiliar location at a specific time. Indeed, it is unusual to ask this of you without a full explanation of the reason and context, however please understand that we are hoping you may be that reason. I can say little more other than to reassure you that you will be treated with the utmost dignity, kindness and respect and that this somewhat curious entreaty involves no financial transaction of any kind.” – fuguestate.info.  Bookings essential to attend this multimedia event.

16 – 29 April 2012

Global Tribe: Technology, Spirituality and Psytrance #books #travellers #trance #geekgirl

From the author: Graham St. John

This book has been a long time in the making, written in many locations, with respect and thanks due to many, and with the months counting down to publication this year I thought I would hook you up with the new Facebook page for Global Tribe: Technology, Spirituality and Psytrance (Equinox 2012).

global-tribe-book-cover

Book Synopsis.

Trance events have an uncanny ability to capture an era, and captivate an audience of travellers occupying the eternal theatre of the dance floor. As this book shows, the tendency within psytrance is to thwart the passage of time, to prolong the night, for those who adopt a liminal lifestyle. Amid the hustle and hubris of the psytrance carnival there is a peaceful repose that you sometimes catch when you’ve drifted into a sea of outstretched limbs, bodies swaying like a field of sunflowers in a light breeze. And you feel intense joy in this fleeting moment. You are the moment. You are inside the flow. You are all. Embodying the poetry of dance, you are living evidence that nothing lasts. And this is a deep revelation of the mystical function of trance. It is difficult to emerge from this little death, because one does not want the party to end. But it must end, even so that it can recommence-so that one can return to repeat the cycle.

The result of fifteen years of research in over a dozen countries, this book applies a sharp lens on a little understood global dance culture that has mushroomed all over the world since its beginnings in the diverse psychedelic music scenes flourishing in Goa, India, in the 1970s and 1980s. The paramount expression of this movement has been the festival, from small parties to major international events such as Portugal’s Boom Festival, which promotes itself as a world-summit of visionary arts and trance, a “united tribe of the world”. Via first-hand accounts of the scenes, events and music of psychedelic trance in Australia, Israel, Italy, the UK, the US, Turkey and other places, the book thoroughly documents this transnational movement with its diverse aesthetic roots, multiple national translations and internal controversies. As a multi-sited ethnography and an examination of the digital, chemical, cyber and media assemblage constituting psytrance, the book explores the integrated role that technology and spirituality have played in the formation of this visionary arts movement and shows how these event-cultures accommodate rites of risk and consciousness, a complex circumstance demanding revision of existing approaches to ritual, music and culture.

Contents

Ch 1. Transnational Psyculture
Ch 2. Experience, the Orient and Goatrance
Ch 3. The Vibe at the End of the World
Ch 4. Spiritual Technology: Transition and its Prosthetics
Ch 5. Psychedelic Festivals, Visionary Arts and Cosmic Events
Ch 6. Freak Out: The Trance Carnival
Ch 7. Psyculture in Israel and Australia
Ch 8. Performing Risk and the Arts of Consciousness
Ch 9. Riot of Passage: Liminal Culture and the Logics of Sacrifice
Ch 10. Nothing Lasts

Preorder book from Equinox.

Prologue on Facebook.

Women in Engineering and IT Hands on Day Program for Girls! #girls #gurls #engineering #geekgirl

This year’s Women in Engineering and IT Hands on Day Program will be held at UTS Broadway Campus, (Sydney) [Australia] for schools on Friday  27 April and Friday 17 August : the aim is to make links for female students between the experience of technology studies, practice and research, and providing information on specific fields, courses and scholarships for school leavers.

It is a full day of Hands on Fun and most importantly, it is ‘GIRLS Only!’ Please read more about past Hands on Days here:

http://utswomeninengineeringandit.blogspot.com.au/search/label/HandsOn

To support planning for 2012 you are invited to encourage your daughters and nieces to attend and we encourage you  to discuss this event with their relevant school departments (Science/Maths/Technology/HSIE) and take advantage of the opportunity to register up to 30 students from these cohorts (Years 8-12) for both Hands on Days. We especially welcome students of diverse backgrounds, areas of interest and aptitudes. As well as those with aptitude in Maths and Sciences, successful engineers and IT professionals can start out with strong interests and ability in Geography, Geology, Design & Technology, Visual Arts and Agriculture. Students can attend by themselves if they have parents’ permission and the school is not willing to bring a group. We will be responsible for the welfare of students between the hours of 8:30am-3:15pm.

Previous Hands on Days have engaged many students with the prospects of engineering and IT as a choice of study and career. It is also a great opportunity for high school students to network with current engineering and IT students and hear from industry professionals, as they gain insights into university life.

If you would like to download a registration form, please click below or contact Karenmay.Belista@uts.edu.au for further information

http://www.feit.uts.edu.au/women/WIEIT-handsonday-application.pdf

Have fun!!!

ACMI presents LIVE IN THE STUDIO for April: Queering the Small Screen #TV #queers #Melbourne #geekgirl

Modern Family

The Australian Centre for the Moving Image presents Live in the Studio April event: Queering the Small Screen

This April ACMI will take a look at the evolving face of queer representation on the small screen in its monthly Live in the Studio television appreciation night.

With gay and lesbian characters popping up on everything from Modern Family and Glee to Nurse Jackie, The Good Wife and even animated hit Archer, queer visibility on the small screen has steadily risen over the past decade.

Join SameSame‘s Travis de Jonk, Cherrie magazine’s Rachel Cook, cultural reviewer Tim Hunter, comedian Catherine Deveny, and author Alasdair Duncan, as they explore the most memorable series, characters and representations to come out of the television closet, and take a peek into what the future may hold for queers on the small screen.

One Thursday each month in ACMI’s television studio, Studio 1, a collection of pop-culture commentators, academics and industry experts and luminaries get together to present a night fits somewhere between analysis and entertainment, allowing audiences to revel in TV past and present. For more information on Live in the Studio, visit acmi.net.au

Dates              Thu 26 April 2012, 7pm
Location         Studio 1
Admission       Full $15 Concession $12 ACMI Members $11
TICKETS

PS. Don’t tell Pell #lol

Hello Bob’s Big Boy! Robot paintings by Antoine Toniolo #arts #robots #Melbourne #geekgirl

Antoine-Toniolo-Robot

What a lovely invitation from Antoine Toniolo…

“Having illustrated the childrens book (soon to be a play) “Professor Willoughby’s Last Robot“ I have dived back into the depths of robot mania to produce a show at the Ochre Gallery in Collingwood. The opening is April 19th 6pm. Come along and share my passion for robots.”

Invite to Hello Bob’s Big Boy

www.ochregallery.com
32-34 Wellington St, Collingwood Vic Australia 
open: wed – fri 10-6 sat + sun 11-5 

#Melbourne #Art: Stay Home Sakoku: The #Hikikomori Project Exhibition at West Space #geekgirl

STAY HOME SAKOKU EXHIBITION AT WEST SPACE

eugenia_lim_sakoku

Stay Home Sakoku: The Hikikomori Project is an introverted performance/installation exploring the Japanese phenomenon of hikikomori or ‘shut in’ syndrome. Over one week, Lim lived in a bedroom-style installation within West Space. Although physically ‘on view’ to gallery goers, communication between herself and the outside world occured via a web portal or ‘hiki-site’ through which people can chat with her via smartphones or home computers.

Background

Hikikomori confine themselves to their rooms for months and, in extreme cases, years on end. Without physical contact, hikikomori exist in isolation. Yet, many survive on a diet of pop culture and live a networked existence through an online community of forums, games and chatrooms. Increasingly, through our daily engagement with Web 2.0, we are all becoming networked beings. Stay Home is a project for anyone whose life intersects with technology and the Internet.

Project collaborators are Dan West, Yumi Umiumare and David Wolf. Stay Home Sakoku: The Hikikomori Project is part of the Today Your Love program. Eugenia Lim inhabited the room for one week, however the installation will be on display until 14 April. Eugenia and her collaborators are supported by the Australia Council and City of Melbourne.

http://www.stayhomesakoku.com/

Exhibition runs
Fri 30 Mar –Sat 14 April 2012

EUGENIA LIM (SAKOKU HAS LEFT THE BUILDING)
Live-in performance and online conversation
Thur 22 Mar – Thur 29 Mar 2012