#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

CALL FOR PROPOSALS: The HTMlles 10 RISKY BUSINESS #Feminist #festival of media arts and digital culture #gender #geekgirl

 The HTMlles 10
 RISKY BUSINESS
 Feminist festival of media arts + digital culture
 10-18 November 2012

 The 10th edition of the HTMlles will take up the notion of risk. To risk: to gain or to lose (it is uncertain), to expose oneself to a possibility… Risk is a potential. Whether used positively or negatively, the idea of risk implies that of evaluation, action and distribution, and thus, power. While the term “risk” evolved with the development of capitalism, the concept of “risk society” is about twenty years old and has been used by scholars to describe how modern society organizes around the idea of risk, that is, in response to a future (which society should be able to manage). By simply invoking or imagining the future, one immediately engages in risky behaviours. Anything and everything can become risky… Indeed, there exists a global economic and industrial complex organized around monitoring and moderating “risk”, from insurance companies to investment products, as well as technologies and approved, standardized methods of risk assessment and risk management. There are also whole sets of techniques of calculation, “optimization” and social control that rely on the presence of a notion of “risk,” from so-called “at-risk populations” to who are considered “vulnerable,” “suspect” or, increasingly so nowadays, “insolvable.”
 
In such a critical moment, it is perhaps crucial to ask (ourselves) some questions. How does the language of risk articulate itself today? What is at risk today? How can one take risks today? What are the different levels of risk in our various (trans)actions? What is the relationship between risk, technology and power? How is risk both managed and created? How is it distributed? Since when does one  “invest” in one’s future and what does it actually mean? Do “crises” serve to pacify the communities being affected by these “crises”? Who are they? What do artists have to say about these so-called risks and crises? How is making art risky today? Who speaks? To whom and in the name of what?
 
The HTMlles 10 welcomes project proposals from self-identified women, trans and gender non-conforming artists of all origins on the theme of risk, as well as proposals for risky projects…
 
The HTMlles is a feminist festival of media arts and digital culture produced in Montreal by Studio XX, a bilingual feminist artist-run centre for technological exploration, creation and critique. Initiated in 1997, the HTMlles is an international platform dedicated to the presentation of women’s, trans and gender non-conforming artists’ independent media artworks from all facets of contemporary technological creation,  including but not limited to: digital storytelling, cyber art, short film and video art, audio and electronic art, radio art, installation, locative media, 3D animation, game art, augmented reality, electronic publishing, design, bio art, public interventions, community-based practices, performance and interdisciplinary practices.
 
The HTMlles 10 will be a multi-sited festival, which includes Studio XX’s new gallery space, the XX Files radio show, .dpi electronic periodical and Matricules online feminist archive. RISKY BUSINESS will be co-presented with several partner artist centres (to be announced) that focus on either (or both) media arts or feminist practices, in
Montreal. Participants receive honoraria.
 
OPPORTUNITY FOR EMERGING CURATORS: The current call is also open to project submissions by self-identified emerging curators.
 
To submit a proposal to the HTMlles 10, please follow the guidelines and email it to: festival (at) htmlles (dot) net
 
*Deadline: Monday, 2 April 2012*
 
Download submission guidelines  http://www.htmlles.net/2012/Call_HTMLLES_2012_EN.pdf

GIRRL girrlsound:: digitalgirrl – CALL OUT-SoundAffects #girrlsound #geekgirl

CALL OUT FOR PROPOSALS OF SOUND WORK

GIRRL girrlsound:: digitalgirrl
This is an international call out for sound-work, digital and sonic recordings, performances, and installation type works, by women, that deal in some way with the extra or surplus quality of sound. Work will be exhibited/performed/presented at Queensland University of Technology, in Brisbane on Friday 27th April.

SoundAffects intends to bring together a plurality of approaches that engage with sound as both mediated and unmediated experience. The event/performance/exhibition
primarily addresses what sound is when it presents itself as sonic art. In order to push the boundary of interdisciplinary sound studies into new areas, we encourage contributions from all approaches and disciplines. As the event is sonic and an interdisciplinary approach to sound for and by GIRRLS

Proposals

Please send your proposals and a short bio (200 words) to the address below.
Please include the title, duration of work and your contact info.
You may send your files showing your work by email, drop box or snail mail to the address below and/or you may include links to examples of your work.
Digital projection and sound file playability are available.
Proposals can be submitted to girrl (at) gmail(dot) com no later than April 10th 2012
Or posted to                                                            
GIRRLSOUND- SoundAffects                  
C/o Donna Hewitt QUT Room KG OB410                                      
Cnr Musk and Victoria Park Rd
Kelvin Grove QLD Australia 4059

Part of GIRRL’s 2012 Events  http://www.girrl-girrlsound-digitalgirrl.org/

Call Out: 2012 Grace Hopper Celebration of #Women in #Computing #geekgirl

The 12th annual Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (GHC) has opened its Call for Participation. The annual conference, presented by the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology, is the world’s largest gathering of women in computing. The Grace Hopper Celebration will take place from October 3 – 6, 2012 at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland. This year’s theme “Are We There Yet?” recognizes that technology and the culture of technology are continuously evolving but there are also concrete goals we are striving to achieve.

At the Grace Hopper Celebration, leading researchers present their current work while special sessions focus on the role of women in today’s technology fields, including computer science, information technology, research and engineering. The technical conference features well known keynote speakers and invited technical speakers, panels, workshops, new investigator technical papers, PhD forums, technical posters, birds of a feather sessions, the ACM Student Research Competition and an Awards Celebration. The attendees who range from students to executives use this global platform to get inspired, stay on top of emerging trends, learn and network.

http://gracehopper.org/2012/participate/call-for-participation/

The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing is a program of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology.
http://anitaborg.org/

#Melbourne Media Lab #Sprint Call for Collaborators #unconstrained #hackers #geekgirl

MELBOURNE: MELBOURNE MEDIA LAB SPRINT CALL FOR COLLABORATORS
From 21 – 29 January Melbourne Media Lab [http://www.medialabmelbourne.com.au/sprints/]
will host the Unconstrained sprint (sprints are short periods of intensive project
development, based on a theme), an investigation into everyday  technologies and
the way in which they have become so complex, powerful  or taken for granted. Melbourne
Media Lab will be developing a number of parallel projects and brainstorming  various
topics to fruition. If you are interested in the social and  political dimensions
of technology or just like to have fun and/or enjoy  tinkering, crafting, performing,
hacking or sculpting, then come and be  part of the team. All disciplines are welcome.

Melbourne Mini Maker Faire – follow up for bits, bobs and knobs. #steampunk #hackers #robogals #arduino #geekgirl

The atrium at Swinburne Jan 14th, (2012) for Melbourne Mini Maker Faire was bursting with busy people making ‘things’. Cardboard boxes were de rigueur: so were peeps travelling from one session to another like industrious ants scurrying to erect a new home. Such are the vicissitudes of people who make things – synapses crammed with crafty ideas and soldered attitudes. It was a pretty good arvo, with all ages and sexes, from whack to knack, hackers to robogals! Here are just a few of things I discovered: plus I now know I really want a 3D printer, and that red teapot (or any teapot) made by @atosha.

@atosha
http://www.mortartown.com
About
My name is Atosha McCaw and I am a graphic designer. I work for a trade union. I am also one of the founding directors of Creative Unions, www.creativeunions.org, a not for profit aimed at improving the level and reputation of graphic design in trade unions.

Prof. Uncle Festa
Steampunk Inventions
- Inventor – Explorer – Artist – Philosopher
profunclefesta.wordpress.com
About
I grew up with steam trains, well model ones at least. Some of my earliest memories are of beautiful old trains roaring around a track, and a live steam engine making a wheel turn rapidly. Very exciting! And then along came Michael Moorcock’s great book “Warlord of the Air” which I read in about 1974 at the ripe old age of 14. Then I got fully into cyberpunk novels and the whole cyberpunk role-playing and sub-culture in the 90s.

Jump forward to Neal Stephenson’s “Diamond Age” in the late 90s and I was fully hooked on what became known as Steampunk. I’ve always made things rather than buy them where possible, from a very simple mechanical computer in the mid 70s, through to a kit computer in late 70s, to a fish-pond recycling system last year, and along the way various steampunk things. Well I’ve missed out 20 years of various cyberpunk and steampunky things, but I’ll show some on this site…stayed tuned old chaps and ladies.

freetronics
www.freetronics.com
About
Freetronics designs, sells and supports a range of flexible, easy to use Arduino-compatible boards and modules (right here in Melbourne). Arduino is the most popular microcontroller board in the world/ It’s been used to make robots, home automation gadgets, automotive projects, for sensing and controlling lights, motors, locks and servos, sound and video, interative objects like animated sculptures, toys and games, radio link and just about anything else you can dream up!

Hack melbourne
Connected Community HackerSpace
http://www.hackmelbourne.org/
Next meetup CCHS
Tuesday general meeting
Tue, 31 January, 18:00 – 22:00
Camberwell, Victoria
General meeting, open to all.
Email AndyG at Geekscape or Twitter DM @geekscape for specifics.

Humanity+ @Melbourne with Aubrey de Grey
(picked up a flyer)
Aubrey de Grey has seen much attention about his theories on robust rejuvenation.

Here is an article in the Age in 2005:

“With the right engineering and maintenance, humans can live until they are 1000″, says Aubrey de Grey. John Elder investigates.

AUBREY DE GREY looks like a scrawny Ned Kelly, with his beer-catching beard and red-rimmed eyes, a thriving survivor of the long past. His name suggests someone born a long time ago. Maybe it’s a name that will come back in vogue hundreds of years hence?

Dr Aubrey de Grey — despite his love of ale and junk food — hopes to be there, walking around in that far-away future. De Grey says he knows what is required to cure ageing.”

See Aubrey speak at Humanity+, 5 -6 May 2012 — Location to be announced.

Squarebit
www.squarebit.com.au
facebook.com/squarebit
About
Squarebit is an online store stocking useful electronic bits for students, hobbyists, hackers, experts and anyone else interested in learning about electronics!

robogals Melbourne
http://melbourne.robogals.org.au
About
Robogals is an International, student-run, organisation whose goal is to increase the number of females pursuing engineering in their tertiary studies and in their careers.

Gay Nuptials Wedding Cake Bash! “Whack shit without Fear” #bridezillas #midsumma #Melbourne #geekgirl

On January 22^nd, women in bouffant gowns and stylin’ tuxes will converge in Fitzroy’s Edinburgh gardens for an all-in wedding cake brawl – in the name of equal love and as part of the Midsumma Festival.

The ‘Gay Nuptials Cake Bash’ is the latest in a series of women’s only fights held by ‘Femme Fight Club’ over the past two years from Melbourne to Berlin. The fights are non-spectator and were conceived as a place where women could express their natural aggression without fear of judgement or injury. In keeping with this weapons have included tomatoes, flowers, wine, wet newspapers, breadsticks, balloons, lettuce and beer.

As event organiser Casey Jenkins explains “We’re more interested in breaking stereotypes than bones”

For the bash on January 22^nd, they’ll be fighting for something more: marriage equality.

“Femme Fights are all about trying to break down old fashioned prejudiced assumptions about gender,” says Jenkins, “We find the fact that Australia is still so blatantly discriminatory and obsessed with genitals, by dictating who we can love and commit to based on gender, appalling. It makes us want to chuck, so that’s what we’re going to do.”

Jenkins hopes the cake fight will send a message to the Government that women aren’t going to sit pretty waiting for change; they’re prepared to get up and fight for gender equality in marriage.

The event is for anyone who identifies as female, is strictly non-spectator (you show, you biff) and adults only though child minders will be on site. The cakes, which are vegan and made largely from discarded ingredients, will be provided and the rubble collected at the end of the event for compost. Provisions will be made to include those who have physical conditions such as being preggas or sporting broken limbs.

The fight will be followed by a reception with live music so we can lick our tasty wounds.

 Event Details:

Where: Edinburgh Gardens, Fitzroy, by the rotunda
Melbourne, Australia
Date: Sunday 22 January
Time: 3pm
Price: Full $8; Concession $6 (through Midsumma.org.au)
Duration: 60 mins approx

Dress: Bridezilla

Links: http://www.midsumma.org.au/component/jevents/icalrepeat.detail/2012/01/15/1419/-/-

http://www.facebook.com/FemmeFightClub

“Barbielicious” LEGOs. Does LEGO design only for boys? Or does it sell stereotypes? #dontdumbdown #lego #geekgirl

space-rocket-lego

Iconic toy brand LEGO recently launched a new line of toys meant just for girls — but two young women, Bailey Shoemaker-Richards and Stephanie Cole, think the products are unfairly “dumbed down” for girls.

The new line is called LadyFigs, and it’s made up of busty, pastel-colored figurines that come with interests like shopping, hair-dressing, and lounging at the beach. The uninspired toys even come with pre-assembled environments — so there is no assembly (or imagination) required.

Bailey and Stephanie say they’re frustrated that LEGO is pushing outdated gender roles on girls and cheating them of the opportunity to build and discover. So they took to the internet, blogging about what they call the new “Barbielicious” LEGOs and petitioning the toy company to lose the sexist LadyFigs line and go back to empowering both boys and girls with its original products. Click here to sign Bailey and Stephanie’s petition today.

LEGO hasn’t always thought its toys were only for boys. In the 1980s, the company was actually celebrated for a major advertising campaign that spotlighted a young girl and her LEGO creation with the tagline “What it is is beautiful.” But since then, LEGO reversed course and decided to market its products only to boys.

The company claims its research shows girls just don’t appreciate the original LEGO line. But Bailey and Stephanie argue that with LEGO’s renewed emphasis on boys — featuring only boys in its ads and stocking products in the boys’ aisles of toy stores — it’s no wonder young girls wouldn’t think LEGOs were meant for them.

Bailey and Stephanie’s fight to get LEGO to return to its gender-neutral toys is already making waves, with the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Time weighing in on the issue. But LEGO is stubbornly holding its ground and told Business Week that the LadyFigs launch is a “strategic” move to “reach the other 50 percent of the world’s children,” as if girls have never been part of LEGO’s focus.

Public pressure can prove LEGO wrong. If enough people sign Bailey and Stephanie’s petition, it could convince LEGO that the new LadyFigs are bad business and the company should return its focus to empowering boys AND girls with toys that inspire creativity and innovation.

Tell LEGO to stop selling out girls — sign Bailey and Stephanie’s petition today.

Editor’s note: Not everyone agrees and there have been some pretty funky designs built by gurls & boys using the new vibrant brick colours.. (One used them to build a spaceship.) I think it’s a personal choice if you want to condemn LEGO for being driven by what their marketing department tells them what girls actually want. LEGO has tried to counter-act the bad press (even though it’s damage control, rather than genuine insight): and it never hurts to make them think about delivering product to a mixed market with several different goals and interests.GG xox

Take care and love to all! #geekgirl

See you all in 2012. Geekgirl is now on holidaze!!

GNOME Outreach Program for Women internships #gnome #opensource #downunder #geekgirl

In an effort to get more women involved in Free Software, the GNOME project is sponsoring several internships for women from December 12, 2011 to March 12, 2012. These dates are aimed at the college women from the Southern Hemisphere who will have a school summer break during this time, but any woman available for a full time internship is welcome to apply. Please consider applying for the program, encourage someone else to apply, or help us spread the word!

The application deadline is October 31. The applicants need to get in touch with individual GNOME projects that participate in this effort ahead of time to decide which project they are interested in working on and make a small contribution to the project.

Participants will work remotely from home, while getting guidance from an assigned mentor and collaborating within their project’s team and the rest of the GNOME community. The projects include developing software for the core desktop, file management, messaging, popular applications, educational activities, and the platform libraries. There are also non-coding projects, such as graphic design, documentation, and marketing. The stipend for the program is $5,000
(USD).

Please visit http://www.gnome.org to learn more and apply. The mentorship opportunities are also available throughout the year for anyone interested in getting started contributing to GNOME outside of the internship program.