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MIDI Scrapyard Challenge
Friday 19 January 2007
Horizon Scotland / Forres, Scotland
Workshop: 10 am - 5 pm
Performance: 6 pm (free and open to the public)
The MIDI Scrapyard Challenge Workshop is an intensive, one-day
workshop in which participants build simple electronic musical
controllers out of found or discarded "junk" such as old electronics,
clothing, furniture, outdated computer equipment, appliances,
turntables, monitors, gadgets, etc.
Photo from a recent Scrapyard Challenge in Newcastle, Australia
The Scrapyard Challenge shows how easy it is to re-use technology and
make it serve a new purpose. Participants in this workshop will not
only experience what it is like to tinker with electronics, but also
be encouraged to think about the design of open systems, platforms and
tools that allow the user to put these to a new use. The ultimate aim
of the Challenge is to encourage an open and collaborative space for
creative ideas and hands-on prototyping.
So far workshops have been held 19 times in 9 countries with 3
different themes. In the Scrapyard Challenge at Distance Lab,
participants will also build simple drawing robots or "DrawBots" with
small, inexpensive motors, batteries, and drawing markers that can
also be connected to a Serial or MIDI interface. The workshop takes
between six and seven hours to complete. We will provide scrap
materials, but you are very welcome to bring your own too!
Check out the Scrapyard
Challenge web site made by its creators, Jonah Brucker-Cohen and
Katherine Moriwaki.
Performance / Concert
At the end of the day, the workshop participants have a small
performance concert, where they will demonstrate and present their
creations together as a group.
Who should participate
Designers, engineers, artists, musicians, performers, academics,
students, creative people, multiple backgrounds and all skill levels
are encouraged to get involved. No electronics skills or any
experience with technology is necessary to participate.
Location
The workshop and performance will be held at Horizon Scotland in
Forres.
Workshop leaders
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
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
The MIDI Scrapyard Challenge is being organized and managed by
Distance Lab with additional support from Urban Learning Space,
Glasgow.
Photos from the event
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