Dorkbot Melbourne
>>> people doing strange things with electricity <<< 4pm, Sunday 27th July, 2008 Level 1, 124a Johnston St Fitzroy 3065 (just east of Brunswick St). Melbourne
This Sunday Dorkbot Melbourne once again brings together inspired and inspiring minds from all over the known universe with a stellar lineup of presentations! Everyone with an interest in doing strange things with electricity is invited to come along and check out the presentations and participate in lively discussion. Doors open at 4pm, presentations start at 4.30 sharp. Bring your friends. Bring drinks and nibblies of your choice. Scheduled talks are outlined below.
As usual there will be an opportunity for anyone to spend a couple of minutes explaining what they’re up to, promoting related activities and events, or requesting help. You’re welcome to just turn up and ask on the day, but feel free to let us know in advance. Also, please get in touch with us at (dorkbotmelbourne@dorkbot.org) if you’d like to present something at a future dorkbot.
::: Icarus, Electroacoustics and Behavioral Objects :: Ollie Brown and Alice Eldridge
Ollie will be chatting about his work with his band Icarus, and various other electrro-acoustic projects, Alice will then join him to talk about the past, present and future of Behavioural Objects – some experiments in evolutionary and adaptive systems for music performance and generative animation.
Alice and Ollie will talk a little about “Behavioural Objects” – a framework for conceptualising and designing software components for electro-acoustic improvisation, and how this relates to the current project they are working on at Monash which focuses on ecosystemic models in generative and interactive media art. Both projects take inspiration from the evolutionary and adaptive principles of the biological world to create generative and adaptive software models that can be used as tools for making stuff (sometimes called “creative software”). They will give an overview of some of the processes and mechanisms we have implemented (things like homeostasis, specific types of neural networks, resource recycling and swarming) and invite discussion on whether this biological approach alters the way we work with digital media.
Alice is working as RA on the Design After Nature project at CEMA. This is pretty exciting as it is perhaps the only RA position in the world which unites her practical interests in (musical) improvisation and theoretical fascination with evolutionary and adaptive systems. [ http://www.ecila.org/ ]
Ollie is an electronic musician and researcher interested in dynamical system and artificial life approaches to musical performance, creativity and the co-evolution of software and creative practice. He is working as RA on the Computational Creativity and Ecosystems project at CEMA. He recently completed a PhD at the Department of Computing at Goldsmiths, University of London on biocultural co-evolutionary models associated with the evolution of human musical behaviour. See his website for more information. [ http://www.olliebown.com/ ] [ http://www.icarus.nu/ ]
::: New media art and technoscience: technophobia versus technophilia ::: Philippe Pasquier
Art and technology have always been closely linked. In order to assess how much the constant and accelerating influx of new technologies is affecting this relationship, the connections between new media art practices and technoscience (the apparatus producing new technologies) will be analyzed along two dimensions: (1) the relationship of the artist/creator to his/her tool(s), and (2) the relationship between the audience and the media content. This analysis, illustrated by various artistic projects, will serve as a pretext to look at the underlying debate on the status of the relationship between technoscience and culture. Are new technologies a tool for artistic creation or is artistic creation under the domination of (and intrumentalised by) technoscience? An in-breath survey of this age-old debate in philosophy of technique will present a variety of positions ranging from technophobia to the most extreme technophilia.
About Philippe: After studying computer science and cognitive sciences in Europe (France and Belgium), Philippe Pasquier completed his Ph.D. in the field of artificial intelligence at Laval University (Québec, Canada). He has then been working a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Information Systems at the University of Melbourne (Australia). Since January 2008, he is an assistant professor in the School of Interactive Arts and Technology (SIAT) of Simon Fraser University’s Faculty of Applied Sciences (Vancouver, Canada). There, he is conducting both a scientific and an artistic research agenda.
In his artistic practice, dominated by sonic arts, he is interested in studying and exploiting the various relationships and synergies between art, science and technology. In the last ten years, he has been acting as a performer, director, composer, musician, producer and educator in many different contexts. He is also serving as an active member and administrator of several artistic collectives and company (Robonom, Phylm, Miji), art centers (Avatar, Bus Gallery) and artistic organizations (P: Media art, Machines) in Europe, Canada and Australia. His work has been shown on four continents and funded or supported by more than 20 cultural institutions including the Canada Council for the Arts, the French Ministry of Culture and the Australia Council for the Arts. [ http://www.sfu.ca/pasquier ]
:::
Monthly dorkbot Melbourne meetings are scheduled for the last Sunday of every month (except December) so whack it in your diary now.
Hope to see you there!
The Melbourne dorkbot overlords: Javier, Ross, Jon and Jesse
dorkbotmelbourne@dorkbot.org http://dorkbot.org/dorkbotmelbourne/ http://projects.dorkbot.org/dorkbot-wiki/DorkbotMelbWiki