Steamscape #Melbourne #exhibiton #steampunk #geekgirl

steampunk bustle by clockwork butterfly

Clockwork Butterfly
www.clockworkbutterfly.net
Garments for the discerning Neo-Victorian

Exhibition Steamscape: A participant of the 2012 L’Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival Cultural Program 3rd – 25th March.

Steampunk is a movement that is best described as “victorian Science Fiction”. A rebellion against the mass production found in today’s consumer goods, it concentrates on individually crafted items that reflect the classical aesthetics of the late 19th century, with a twist of dynamic industrial influences and an often whimsical sense of fun.

The exhibition will feature the exquisite, timeless clothing creations of Clockwork Butterfly partnered with Jos Van Hulsens’s fantastical scupltural creations.

Post Industrial Design, 638 Barkly Street, West Footscray 3012.

#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.

Media Lab Melbourne :: Sprint #2 #unconstrained #geekgirl

_Media Lab Melbourne :: Sprint #2: Unconstrained_ 
_Call for projects closes 12 December 2011_ 

Technological frontiers have expanded beyond the ability of an individual to comprehend their complexity. Yet, these frontiers permeate our everyday experiences. How does your smartphone function? How was your toaster made? What tools do you use to earn money? How many different forms of communication do you experience in one day? How well do YOU understand the technology in your life? How well do you need to? Media Lab Melbourne is seeking proposals for devices or services as statements on the complexity of our everyday technology and systems. Successful applications will work with Media Lab Melbourne and collaborators to realise these proposals during a sprint over 9 days beginning on the 21st of January 2012.  As this is a collaborative sprint it is not important what skills you have but how effective your idea is!  Media Lab Melbourne will support projects with technical and production support. Should a person live interstate and wish to attend, we are also able to provide basic travel and accommodation for the duration of the sprint.  Selected participants will be notified on the 16th of December.  At this point there will be a second call for collaborators to assist in the creation of the selected projects. Applicants who are not selected in the initial call are welcome to participate as collaborators. 

http://www.medialabmelbourne.com.au/

Feminist art in the 1970s and 1980s in Australia – A different temporality #Melbourne #feminist #geekgirl

Janet Burchill and Jennifer McCamley, Soft geometry 1982

Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA), Caulfield, Melbourne, Australia

A Different Temporality: Aspects of Australian Feminist Art Practice 1975-1985 brings together feminist approaches to temporality in the visual arts, with a focus on the late 1970s and early 1980s in Australia.

Rather than simply presenting a summary of feminist practice at the time, the selected works reflect prevalent debates and modes of practice. They focus upon dematerialisation of the art object, the role of film theory, and the adoption of diaristic and durational modes of practice, including performance, photography and film.

The exhibition presents the work of Micky Allan, Janet Burchill and Jennifer McCamley, Bonita Ely, Sue Ford, Helen Grace, Lyndal Jones and Jenny Watson.

According to Max Delany, director of MUMA, the exhibition is long overdue.

“Focussing on a critical, albeit under-represented, period in recent contemporary art practice, A Different Temporality invokes a radical history and dynamic body of work, of particular relevance to the social turn in current art practice, which we hope will stimulate new debates and further action and reflection,” Mr Delany said.

A Different Temporality presents a diverse selection of art that engages with the concept of temporality as both metaphor and subject.  While it might not openly exemplify an overriding logic, the collection illustrates various feminist approaches to history, as well as repetition and flow, and the concept of cinematic montage – which continue to resonate in the present.

Dr Kyla McFarlane, exhibition curator said the artists represented in the exhibition shared an interest in time, seen through the adoption of mediums including film and performance, which places them at the forefront of innovative art practice.

“The diverse – sometimes oppositional – approaches to political and cultural debates by these women artists shows us something of the complex recent history of feminist art practice in Australia,” Dr McFarlane said.

A Different Temporality: Aspects of Australian Feminist Art Practice will be on display at Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA), Caulfield campus until 17th December 2011.

Digital Art Commission Call Out: My Big Gay Family #Melbourne #Gay #geekgirl

The City of Darebin is presenting, as part of Midsumma Festival 2012, a celebration of ‘My Big Gay Family’. Expressions of Interest are invited from digital artists to design, develop and prepare for presentation a public projection for the ProjectarT space at Northcote Civic Square between January 15 and February 5, 2012. The selected artist will be paid $2000. What does ‘Big Gay Family’ mean to you?

ProjectarT is a facility to enable the projection of digital art onto the south wall of the Northcote Town Hall overlooking the Civic Square.

To request an artists’ brief or for further information please call (03) 8470 8458 or email Bel Schenk, Arts and Cultural Development Officer.

Expressions of interest are due by 5pm, December 7, 2011.

Source: http://www.darebin.vic.gov.au/eNewsletter/eNewsletter.asp?id=103

Launch of the Giant Theremin #Melbourne #MMW #geekgirl

Standing more than seven metres tall, the Giant Theremin was created by local audiovisual performance artist Robin Fox.

The launch features two original music and dance works created by some of Melbourne’s leading creatives.

The mesmerising choreography of Green Room Award winner Stephanie Lake (Chunky Move, Lucy Guerin), developed to complement a sound map created by Robin Fox, culminates in ‘Vanishing Point’ a striking contemporary dance performance.

Dexter, best known for his infectious mixes of dubstep, tribal and soul beats, performs a sound map played by krump, traditional and break dancers in a hip-hop spectacular. With a career spanning over two decades, he started out as a mobile DJ, then progressed to party rocker and member of the Avalanches, placing at the DMC World DJ Championships. His most recent project is Grrilla Step.

An initiative of the City of Melbourne, supported by VicHealth.

Location
Signal forecourt
1 Flinders Walk
Northbank Melbourne, Australia

Contact details
melbournemusic@melbourne.vic.gov.au

Date & times for Artist performance:
19/11/2011

Saturday: 8:30pm – 9:30pm

This event repeats one week later on Saturday 26 November, 7.30pm to 8.30pm.

The Giant Theremin will be on Les Erdi Plaza until 29 February and can be also be played by members of the public: Sunday to Thursday: 8am-10pm; Friday to Saturday: 8am-11pm.

MMW site
http://tinyurl.com/ceralvd
What is a therimen? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theremin

Drupal Downunder call for talks closes Mon 14th Nov #drupal #opensource #downunder #geekgirl

http://drupaldownunder.org/call-sessions
Call for talks closes Monday 14th Nov.

Conference season is in full swing. Wordcampgc just past, OSDC coming up, LCA around the corner. It’s miniconfs and campsaganza!

Drupal Downunder takes place in Melbourne on the eve of linux.conf.au. The weekend of Sat 14 – Sun 15 January with preconf workshops on Fri 13.

If you’re of a webby persuasion, and have knowledge and experience to share, please consider putting in a talk proposal.  We’re keen to reach out and learn anything relevant – not just Drupal stuff.  A lot of Drupal sites run on Linux, most use MySQL, some PostgresQL, they all need a web-server, they all need to pay heed to available network resources.

If you’re into design or usability, or typography or HTML5, CSS, Javascript, or anything to do with the openweb – then please please please give me a moment of your time and submit a talk proposal by Monday!

Or encourage someone you know with something to share!~:)

Mark Amerika public lecture: Nov 15 #Melbourne #remixthecontext #transmedia #geekgirl

Mark Amerika public lecture and conversation with Dan Angeloro (Sodajerk)

The Centre for Creative Arts, Faculty of Humanities and Social Science, La Trobe University invite you to a public lecture:  Mark Amerika: “Remixthecontext: the transmedia artist in network culture”

The lecture will be followed by a Conversation between Mark Amerika and Dan Angeloro (Soda_Jerk)

When: 15 November 2011, 6.30pm
Where: Village Roadshow Theatrette, State Library Victoria, Melbourne
http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/visit/how-get-here

Remix is a widespread practice of recombining existing material to make something new —including covers, sampling, mash-ups, smash-ups, cut-ups. Mark Amerika looks at how new media artists, many of whom identify with the historical avant-garde, are expanding the forms of remix art to foreground an anti-disciplinary [anti-authoritarian + interdisciplinary] approach to both contemporary practice and theory. Amerika will discuss his experimental art, theory, and pedagogy, including his recent projects Immobilité and remixthebook.

Mark Amerika is a cult novelist, media theorist, web publisher, VJ artist, and remix artist. He has been named a “Time Magazine 100 Innovator” as part of their continuing series of features on the most influential artists, scientists, entertainers and philosophers into the 21st century. Amerika is widely exhibited internationally, with solo exhibitions at major art galleries and biennales. He is Professor of Art and Art History at the University of Colorado, Boulder and Principal Research Fellow at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, La Trobe University, Melbourne. http://markamerika.com www.remixthebook.com

Dan Angeloro is one half of Soda_Jerk, a collaboration working together since 2002. In their video installations and performance lectures, Soda_Jerk work with audiovisual samples to create speculative narratives that interrogate historical events and cultural trajectories. Soda_Jerk are the recipients of the 2011 Helen Lempriere Travelling Art Scholarship and a 2011 British Council Realise Your Dream Award. http://www.sodajerk.com.au

For futher information, please contact
Norie Neumark, Director, Centre for Creative Arts
n.neumark@latrobe.edu.au
or Natalie Pirotta, Coordinator, Centre for Creative Arts
CentreCreativeArts@latrobe.edu.au

Kat Macleod’s – Page Girls Fashion Illustrations #michi #sketches #Melbourne #geekgirl

Drawings from Michi in print.

Kat Macleod returns to Lamington Drive for her third solo exhibition opening on Thursday October 20. Entitled ‘Page Girls’, the show presents a series of Macleod’s original Michi Girl illustrations, previously published in Michi’s two books, bestseller Like I Give a Frock (2008, Penguin), and encyclopaedia of fashion What On Earth Are You Wearing? (2010, Penguin). Michi is a fictional weather girl and fashion commentator created by Chloe Quigley and Daniel Pollock. She writes a daily email newsletter that reaches the inboxes of tens of thousands of people around the world every day. The exhibition coincides with the auspicious occasion of Michi’s 10th birthday and features a series of redheaded beauties hand-picked by Macleod from her personal collection, complete with signature imperfections which reveal the process of metamorphosis behind the illustrations.

Page Girls also includes eight limited edition A4 archival prints of iconic Michi Girls, and one limited edition collectable A2 poster. Michi Girl merchandise will be available in the Lamington Drive shoppe, including postcard book, notebook and Michi Girl books.

Since her last solo show in 2009, Macleod has illustrated two books, the aforementioned What On Earth Are You Wearing?, and Sequins & Sequence (2010, ERM books). These join the shelf with her previously illustrated titles – Bird (2002, 3 Deep Design), The Cocktail (2005, Hardie Grant) and Michi Girl’s Like I Give a Frock. Her illustrations have appeared on runway invitations for Collette Dinnigan, album artwork for Clare Bowditch, on the pages of Chinese Vogue, Numero Tokyo and Australian Vogue Entertaining + Travel, as well as limited edition products for Heide Museum of Modern Art, The Australian Ballet and Third Drawer Down.

She has held two solo exhibitions, The Tiniest Spark (2008) and Slight Inclusions (2009), at Lamington Drive gallery, and runs the Ortolan graphic design studio with two of her best friends. In December 2011, Macleod will hold an accompanying solo exhibition at Lamington Drive’s exciting new temporary gallery at Chadstone Shopping Centre.

http://lamingtondrive.com/exhibitions/event/page-girls/