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Visit the online boutique of our first spin-off company...

Lost Values

Seminar

Jonah Brucker-Cohen
"Deconstructing Networks"
and
Katherine Moriwaki
"Socially Fashioned Networks"

Thursday 18 January 2007 / 5:30 pm
The Green House / Inverness, Scotland
Free and open to the public

Distance Lab is pleased to host a seminar with two accomplished techno-designer-artists from New York City, Jonah Brucker-Cohen and Katherine Moriwaki.

Jonah will discuss his work in the theme of "Deconstructing Networks" in both physical and online instantiations. He will discuss his projects that attempt to challenge and subvert accepted notions of network interaction from software manipulation and rule-based systems to translating virtual processes and conventions into the physical world. Some projects he will discuss include BumpList, an email community for the determined, Alerting Infrastructure!, a website hit counter that destroys a building, PoliceState a fleet of radio controlled policecars who's movements are dictated by keywords sniffed on a local network, and SimpleTEXT a performance that is controlled by participants through texting messages from their mobile phones.

Katherine will discuss her work on "socially fashioned" networks, utilizing a combination of wearable technologies, varying degrees of network infrastructure, and social behavior for deployment and propagation. Unlike fixed networks, spontaneous ad-hoc networks rely upon mobile and flexible infrastructure which can dynamically reconfigure based on necessity and circumstance. As these communication devices are integrated into intimate personal objects, such as accessories and clothing, the statement that "the people are the network" becomes increasingly resonant. This presentation focuses on the projects "RECOIL", "Inside/Outside", "Oscillating Windows" and "Umbrella.net." These projects serve as examples of "socially fashioned" networks.

Jonah and Katherine will also be leading the MIDI Scrapyard Challenge in Forres on Friday 19 January.

Speaker biographies

Jonah Brucker-Cohen



Jonah Brucker-Cohen is a researcher, artist, and R&D OpenLab Fellow at Eyebeam in NYC. He is also currently completing his Ph.D. as an HEA MMRP (Multimedia Research Programme) fellow in the Disruptive Design Team of the Networking and Telecommunications Research Group (NTRG), Trinity College Dublin. He was also a Research Fellow in the Human Connectedness Group at Media Lab Europe. He received a Masters from the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU and was an Interval Research Fellow there creating interactive networked projects. His work and thesis focuses on the theme of "Deconstructing Networks" which includes projects that attempt to critically challenge and subvert accepted perceptions of network interaction and experience. He is co-founder of the Dublin Art and Technology Association (DATA Group) and a recipient of the ARANEUM Prize sponsored by the Spanish Ministry of Art, Science and Technology and Fundacion ARCO. His writing has appeared in numerous international publications including WIRED Magazine, Rhizome.org, and GIZMODO, and his work has been shown at events such as DEAF (03,04), Art Futura (04), SIGGRAPH (00,05), UBICOMP (02,03,04), CHI (04,06) Transmediale (02,04), ISEA (02,04,06), Institute of Contemporary Art in London (04), Whitney Museum of American Art's ArtPort (03), Ars Electronica (02,04), and the ZKM Museum of Contemporary Art (04-5).

Jonah URLs
Projects and Work: www.coin-operated.com/projects
Personal site and Blog: www.coin-operated.com

Katherine Moriwaki



Katherine Moriwaki is an artist and researcher investigating clothing and accessories as the active conduit through which people create network relationships in public space. Currently a Ph.D. Candidate in the Networks and Telecommunications Research Group at Trinity College Dublin, her work has appeared in IEEE Spectrum Magazine, and numerous festivals and conferences including numer.02 at Centre Georges Pompidou (02), Break 2.2 (03), Ubicomp (03,04), eculture fair (03), Transmediale (04), CHI (04, 06), ISEA (04), Ars Electronica (04), and WIRED Nextfest (05). Katherine recieved her Masters degree from the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and currently teaches at Parsons School of Design in and the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). She is a 2004 recipient of the Araneum Prize from the Spanish Ministry for Science and Technology and Fundacion ARCO.

Katherine URLs
Projects and Work: www.kakirine.com

Sponsors

Jonah and Katherine's trip to the highlands is being supported by Distance Lab and Urban Learning Space, Glasgow.