yesterday was my last day of Materia Abierta, which concluded with a group trip out to Milpa Alta to meet with the organizers of Calpulli Tecalco, a family-run community space invested in preserving indigenous language practices (Nahuatl in particular, but other languages as well due to migration to the region) and traditional farming techniques. technology doesn’t just mean computers, and preserving pre-Hispanic seed varieties is a pretty radical act! they have regular workshops for the local community, but they also have an artist residency program and an “adopt a milpa” program if agricultural sovereignty or language preservation is relevant to your practice!
but anyway I am a bit ready to get back to regularly scheduled programming (aka just doing work and going to the gym lol).
resource roundup!
there’s a humble bundle up this week with a bunch of Python books! I’m probably gonna grab it myself just for the sake of a book called Impractical Python Projects – sometimes u just want to make something weird and impractical without some Stack Overflow bro asking u why! you can grab the bundle here.
here’s a cute lil concept: LEGO-compatible circuit kits! seems like an easy and fun way to prototype, especially once you throw in some nylon conductive tape. you can check out more on the project here.
.----------------. .----------------. .----------------. | .--------------. || .--------------. || .--------------. || | __ | || | _______ | || | _________ | || | / \ | || | |_ __ \ | || | | _ _ | | || | / /\ \ | || | | |__) | | || | |_/ | | \_| | || | / ____ \ | || | | __ / | || | | | | || | _/ / \ \_ | || | _| | \ \_ | || | _| |_ | || ||____| |____|| || | |____| |___| | || | |_____| | || | | || | | || | | || '--------------' || '--------------' || '--------------' | '----------------' '----------------' '----------------'ART is a Python library for converting text into fancypants ASCII art by Sepand Haghighi. it includes some preloaded artwork as well as a bunch of fonts for text art. it can also be used online in interactive Jupyter Notebooks! maybe you want to spice up that text-based adventure you’ve been working on? or maybe you just want to fart around in the console at work? you do you! you can learn more here.
have you been working on something great & want to get the word out there? this guide to getting press for your creative work from The Creative Independent has some solid strategies for writing a good pitch and finding the right outlets.
here’s a big set of color schemes for most terminals, including iTerm2, Terminal, Konsole, PuTTY, Xresources, XRDB, Remina, Termite, XFCE, Tilda, FreeBSD VT, Terminator, Kitty, MobaXterm, LXTerminal, and Microsoft’s Windows Terminal. my personal fav is cyberpunk, but the Arthur theme is pretty lol tbh.
and, last but not least, here’s a guide to making a low-cost flex & pressure sensor that uses conductive velostat. you can get big ol sheets of velostat on Adafruit for about $5, so this looks like an affordable way to make a sensor that is exactly sized for your needs.
opportunities!
Pioneer Works will hold their first-ever open call from September 2-30 for residencies for 2020-2021 for artists working in Visual Arts, Music, Technology, and/or Narrative Arts. the application portal opens next Monday, but you can learn more in the meantime here.
POWRPLNT has an open call for volunteer teaching artists. this is as much of an opportunity for you to connect with a great community and strengthen your teaching experience as it is to share your skills. check it out and consider applying here!
as a part of Inter/setions 2019, Queen Mary University of London is hosting an Unuseless Music Design Hackathon from November 8-9, with applications due by September 8. does spending 2 days trying to make the silliest and most subversive musical design sound fun to you? you can learn more here!
House of Electronic Arts Basel and the Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology of the Zurich University of the Arts have an open call for artists for a residency and production program. they’re looking for a European artist or artists who are interested in learning how to work with their Immersive Lab, a unique sound and video space, and produce a new work for it. submissions are due by September 22, and you can learn more here.
the Sundance Institute has an open call for their 2020 New Frontier Story Lab. they’re looking for artists who are developing interactive, immersive, or experimental projects that aim to create rich and resonant experiences for audiences. the deadline is Oct 1, so get going! more info here.
? upcoming events!
Sept 13-15! SSHH! New York, NY USA: Trumpcare IUD is an art installation where 500 IUD birth control devices shaped like Trump himself will be on view at SSHH, with a launch Friday night from 6-9pm, and gallery hours from 2-7pm on Saturday and Sunday. if, like the author of this review of the Whitney Biennial, you’re feeling like artists “have not responded profoundly… to the social and political crisis that has increasingly gripped the US, particularly since the 2016 Trump election,” this exhibition sounds worth a visit.
Sept 9-13! School of Machines, Making & Make-Believe! Berlin, Germany: here’s a week-long workshop from School of Machines, Making & Make-Believe designed to get you working in VR with no prior experience necessary. all of the software that will be used is free, so you just need to bring a laptop. learn more and get tix (including a discounted rate for students) here.
Weds, Sept 11! Covent Garden! London, UK: LDC and INTERLACED are teaming up for a panel discussion on the crossovers between fashion and gaming for London Fashion Week. early bird tix are already sold out! but you can get regular admission on Eventbrite.
Sept 16-21! Berlin, Germany: Citizens of Evidence: Independent Investigations for Change is a conference of the Disruption Network Lab this September in Berlin. the conference itself is the 20-21, in conjunction with a workshop presented by School of Machines, Making & Make-Believe on using technology to investigate injustice. this looks really good, and I’m secretly trying to come up with excuses to attend. you can learn more here.
Sat, Sept 21! Triangle Arts Association! Brooklyn, NY USA: the Tech Learning Collective will be debuting a new workshop to teach you how to run your own server! it’s a 1-day intensive course particularly geared towards DIY spaces that might want to provide alternative infrastructures to their communities. tix are $150, with a discounted rate of $99 for queer and femme folks. you can learn more here.
just for lulz!
if ur feeling a bit middle school this week, here’s a nicely documented generative study in “that s thing” (u no what it is). the project lives on glitch so it’s super easily forked and remixed if u feel like tinkering urself.
*~housekeeping~*
as always, submit to the open artist call if you have anything in the works that you are excited about! I swear I’m actually going to read through them and start pinging people (lol). and if you have an event or opportunity to promote (anywhere), please send me all the details. the next newsletter will cover the week of September 2 to 8, but I’m happy to promote events further in the future as well and keep them on the calendar.
