[spectre] Pixelache Helsinki 2011: Preliminary programme announcement

[Juha Huuskonen]

PIXELACHE HELSINKI 2011
10-13 March 2011
www.pixelache.ac

The 10th edition of Pixelache Helsinki will take place mostly on  
Suomenlinna island, located right outside central Helsinki. The focus  
this year will be on workshops, exhibitions, seminars and various  
informal events.

PRELIMINARY PROGRAMME

MAP ME IF YOU WILL

By the mere fact of living an ordinary modern urban life, we produce a  
huge amount of information about ourselves that we are hardly aware  
of, nor we usually see or make use of. Through this data we become  
traceable, accessible, predictable – and clearly enough – ideal  
clients of information-based capitalism. So if we cannot prevent the  
production and the corporate or governmental use of this data without  
changing our lifestyle completely, how can we at least benefit from it  
ourselves? How could we build systems that collect, visualise and  
publish data for our own purposes? And how can we share personal and  
public data with the society at large or the community we live in to  
our common advantage?

'map me if you will' features a public seminar and a one-day workshop  
for practitioners (a think-tank on current mapping projects). Invited  
guests include Christian Nold (UK), Esther Polak (NL), Wouter van den  
Broeck (BE) and RYBN (FR/int) (more to be confirmed).

‘map me if you will’ is a programme devised by Susanne Jaschko, a  
Berlin based independent curator of contemporary art with a focus on  
public and experimental art and digital culture.

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GROWORLD BAZAAR

The Groworld Bazaar is a collection of projects exploring connections  
between plants and people. The Groworld initiative brings together  
three ‘forces’ capable of transforming the world on human and  
ecological scales: culture, gardening and technology. These three  
strands of inquiry inform and support each other, aiming to forge new  
symbiotic relationships between the post-industrial human societies  
and the rest of the Earth.

Bartaku will be building ‘Temporary photoElectric Digestopians’ in an  
edible solar cell workshop using the Aronia berry as a sustainable  
power source. Lina Kusaite and Dave Griffiths will be inviting you to  
make seedballs for guerrilla gardening and take part in a drawing and  
game design workshop involving permaculture guilds incorporating the  
Aronia berry – helping to develop an online multiplayer permaculture  
game. Theun Karelse will organise an augmented ecology meeting focused  
on the benefits and consequences of mapping wildlife: ‘Is there still  
a private life for plants?’.

Theun, Bartaku, Lina and Dave are all members of FoAM, a  
transdisciplinary laboratory and a research group committed to  
developing a holistic culture, by actively propagating resilient  
cultural forms. FoAM's members include artists, gardeners, cooks,  
technologists, designers, writers and scientists from all walks of life.

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COMPUTATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY

In computational photography, camera and picture-taking are perceived  
as concepts that can be modified in do-it-yourself spirit and are  
therefore open to discussion, redefinition, and hacking. This artistic  
approach to the field differs from how the term is understood in the  
photographic industry where the focus is on features that serve  
typical photographic purposes.

Computational Photography programme will feature an exhibition in MUU  
Gallery and a small seminar. More details will be announced in January  
2011.

The programme section is organised by guest curator Markku Nousiainen  
and in collaboration with Aalto University Media Factory. The advisory  
board for this programme section consists of Antti Huittinen, Jussi  
Ängeslevä and Miska Knapek.

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PROFESSIONAL WORKSHOPS

Pixelache Helsinki 2011 will feature several workshops for  
professionals:
- Bioelectronix for Artists workshop by Andy Gracie & Marc  
Dusseiller / Hackteria (organised in collaboration with Finnish Bio  
Art Society, www.kilpiscope.net)
- Environmental Sensors and Sensor Networks in Media Art workshop  
(organised in collaboration with M.A.R.I.N project, www.marin.cc)
- A think-tank on current mapping projects (related to map me if you  
will programme)
- Temporary photoElectric Digestopians, edible solar cells: e-pastry,  
e-sushi… for heliotropic tasting towards tickling tongues and enriched  
tastes. (a part of Groworld Bazaar programme)

The Hacteria and M.A.R.I.N workshops will start already a couple of  
days before the festival. More information about the workshops’  
contents and schedule will be published very soon in a separate  
announcement.

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CAMP PIXELACHE

Camp Pixelache will is an experimental event format, featuring:

- Presentations: the programme of presentations is put together in the  
morning, when the participants arrive at the venue.
- A temporary exhibition: a selection of works from an open call is  
presented for a duration of 1-2 days (Sat 12 March + Sun 13 March)
- A temporary lab: non-stop workshops and showcases, either from  
invited collaborators or from the open call

More information about Camp Pixelache 2011 will be published early  
next year. The open call deadline is Friday 14 March. To get a better  
idea of what Camp Pixelache is about, have a look at previous Camp  
Pixelache wiki at http://wiki.pixelache.ac/10kerava/home

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SIGNALS FROM THE SOUTH

The 4th edition of Signals from South (a programme section focusing on  
art, media and technology projects from Asia, Africa and South  
America) will feature an exhibition by Jean Katambayi Mukendi from  
Congo (RDC). Jean Katambayi Mukendi is a self-taught artist and  
scientist, who has a passion for logic, maths and electricity.

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PIXELACHE CLUBS

The Finnish Äänen Lumo association has been invited to put together  
the programme for Pixelache club events in Club Dubrovnik on Friday 11  
March + Saturday 12 March. The programme details will be announced in  
Jan/Feb 2011.

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More details about the festival programme will be published in January  
2011, as well as information of how to register a festival pass and  
sign up for the workshops.

We hope to see you in Helsinki in March 2011!